


Since the Fall of Man

by medomai



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2017-12-31 10:30:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/medomai/pseuds/medomai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Hollow Bastion was destroyed, Leon, Aerith, Cid and Yuffie find a world called Traverse Town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Greatest Threat

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from FF.net. It was written four years ago, so that means every time I read it over again since, I just want to edit, delete, rewrite things. But I'll resist! 
> 
> Originally beta'd by con-affetto-kiko.tumblr.com

As carefully as she could, Aerith shifted Yuffie to her other knee. The seven-year old remained soundly asleep, merely rearranging her head to fit the new position on Aerith's shoulder. The girl in pink sighed with relief and leaned back against the bulkhead. It was only the third time Aerith had ever managed to move Yuffie without waking her up; she'd been sleeping so lightly. Yuffie's lack of sleep showed itself everyday in fits of prepubescent fury and raging tantrums which were so frustrating it was tempting to just lock the girl in a cabin all day.

It was useless to pretend they weren't changing. Cid had started drinking again, to say nothing of his smoking, and Aerith was learning how to cuss, and while she was merely tempted to lock Yuffie in her cabin, Leon had actually done it. After fifteen minutes, her terrified screams tore him enough to let her out and hold her until she believed that they weren't going to leave her ever again. 

_"God, Aerith, she's irritating you, too! She needs to learn to calm down!"_

_"Squall - "_

_"Leon!"_

_"Leon, I don't think this is the way to - "_

_"To what? Be a good parent? No shit, Aerith, I've kind of noticed we don't know what the hell we're doing!"_

_"Leon, please, just think about this for one damned second!"_

_"No! God! She's going in there until she shuts the hell up!"_

_..._

_"Oh, Yuffie... I'm so, so sorry. I'll never leave you... Never..."_

Aerith had used the guilt from that incident to get two weeks worth of chores around the ship out of him. She sighed once more, this time laced with sadness. Yuffie shivered in her sleep, and recognizing the signs, Aerith started shaking her gently. "Yuffie, wake up."

The girl opened her eyes blearily, and scrunched up her nose as she considered where she was and what was going on. It took a few seconds.

"Where's Squall?" asked Yuffie, twisting so she could look up at Aerith easier. Yuffie had become exceptionally talented at shoving the terrors in her sleep away; Aerith felt so tired as she smoothed the girl's hair down.

"He's up helping Cid in the cockpit." She didn't mention the world Cid thought he had seen. If it ended up to be some meteor, Aerith didn't want to be the one to see the hope in Yuffie's face die. Again.

"Is something broken?" asked Yuffie, squirming until Aerith let her stand on her own.

"Nope," said Aerith. The fourteen-year old tucked the loose strands of her hair behind her ear, and with the same hand rubbed the bags beneath her eyes. "Cid just gets tired sometimes, so Leon pilots to help him out." There. That wasn't a lie.

"Oh, okay," said Yuffie. "Can I go see them?" She walked to the door, already assuming the answer of 'yes'.

"Er, not right now," said Aerith, stretching out a hand to stop her. "I think they might be pretty busy; we should wait until one of them comes back."

Yuffie frowned, but this made sense to her. "Okay." The girl turned back, and considered Aerith with the same frown on her face. "I'm bored."

"Well," said Aerith. "Do you want to read a book? We've got some books."

"They're too hard," whined Yuffie. "And they're boring. They're all about the stupid ship and naked people and - and - other things." 

Aerith sighed, and re-considered the idea. Cid's how-to manuals, Shera's harlequin novels and old textbooks were fine to keep herself from boredom, but nothing quite on Yuffie's level. "Well," she said, trying to salvage the idea. "Let's just go make sure we don't have more books. Maybe we'll find something else."

Yuffie looked mutinous, but reluctantly agreed. Denied of seeing Leon and Cid, there was nothing really else to do. (Except maybe eat, but even Yuffie understood they couldn't go raid the pantry whenever they wanted.) The two spent the next few hours exploring the nooks and crannies in the ship they'd already seen a dozen times already in search of reading material. A miracle occurred, and they came across Cid's old copies of a children's fantasy series in one of 'closets' near the kitchen.

"I wonder how Cid came by these," mused Aerith, flipping through the worn pages. "They look used."

"Maybe Cid got them when he was a kid," said Yuffie. She plopped down on the deck and start looking through the pages eagerly for the pictures. Aerith gathered the other books together and put them at her side while she looked over Yuffie's shoulder.

"Do you want me to read to you?" asked Aerith.

Yuffie shook her head adamantly, scowling. "I can read!"

"I wasn't saying you can't read," said Aerith calmly, trying to defuse Yuffie's temper as quickly as possible. "But I liked my mom reading to..." Aerith paused, painfully aware of the awkward reference to their obliterated lives. "My mom read to me," she continued stiffly, "and I didn't mind."

Yuffie's face was turned down as she stopped turning pages. She fidgeted with the corner roughly for a few minutes, not saying anything. Selfishly, Aerith was glad she couldn't see Yuffie's expression. If she saw it, it meant she would have to deal with it, or cry, or - or - shit.

It was hard for her to even think the swear word.

"You can read," said Yuffie, and she handed the book to the older girl. Aerith took it and gently flipped to the first page. As she read, Yuffie leaned in against her; Aerith put an arm around her shoulders and kept the book open with one hand.

It was a classic series, and Aerith felt tears flood her eyes as wave after wave of memories would envelop her whenever a familiar line or paragraph passed her lips. For Yuffie's sake, however, she managed to keep the sobs at bay and calmed herself. An hour later, when Aerith reached the one-third mark mark and her voice was starting to become hoarse, she felt Yuffie sink into her side even more. She turned to see Yuffie had fallen asleep.

Aerith put her into bed, and left the books on a nearby table. When she turned off the light and closed their door only halfway, she turned around and saw Sq - Leon hesitating in mid-step in the corridor. He still had a hand on the door to the cockpit.

"Hey," said Aerith, when Leon didn't say anything right away. "What's up?"

Leon avoided eye contact, and stared only at the floor. "I'm, um, not sure." His voice was quiet and scratchy, a testament to the long hours without sleep.

"Sq - Leon?" Aerith asked, then faltered. "What's - Leon, what's wrong?" Despite her panic, her voice never raised above a murmur; they had become experts in having quiet break-downs.

At the sound of her fear, Leon quickly looked up at her to reassure her. "No, no, nothing's wrong," he said, walking closer. "We just don't know..."

"Don't know what, Leon?" asked Aerith. She leaned over and picked up one of his hands between hers. "Leon, do we have to run again?"

Leon softly squeezed her hands. "No, we don't." 

"Then what is it?" Hope, a withered hole in herself Aerith ignored more often than not, twinged right beside fear. "Is it - ?"

"A world?" Leon finished. He dropped her hands and leaned against the threshold to the girl's room, leaning his head against his arm as he squinted to see Yuffie in her bed. When he found her, the change in his body language was immense. His shoulders relaxed, the frown lines reduced, his eyes softened, the corners of his lips turned slightly upwards. "Yeah. It's a world."

Aerith stopped breathing for a moment. "Leon!"

He turned to her again, and his face was warm. The ugly redness of the healing scar was completely overshadowed. "We really think - it's - we'll be there in about three days." 

She didn't know what to say. Leon seemed to understand, and though he didn't offer a hug or a hand to hold, Aerith felt on cloud nine already. Any more impossible things, and she knew she would be dreaming. 

\---

When the twenty-fourth hour of their cycle buzzed quietly on the console marking the middle of the night, Leon turned to Cid. 

"Why don't you go ahead?" he said. "I'll close down here." 

Cid smiled, somehow making the wrinkles and bags under his eyes smaller and less noticeable. He might never realize, but he looked years younger when he smiled. "You sure, Leon?" 

Leon nodded. "Yeah, I got it. You go to bed, you need some sleep." 

The older man patted Leon's shoulder heavily, laughing quietly. "We all need some sleep." As the doors hissed close behind Cid, Leon remained half-turned towards the door, a soft smile on his face. He was lost in thought, going over that last minute in his head with a look on his face Aerith would have called fondness. By himself in the cockpit, Leon didn't mind admitting it. That was the first time he'd heard Cid laugh for - well, a long time. 

And how long had it been? With the different tilt to his thoughts, Leon's smile faded as he turned to consider the stars. How long...? He frowned as he realized he didn't even know exactly. Not that they'd been counting, either; they'd all been avoiding thinking about it. 

And just like someone who's been told not to think of a pink striped chocobo, Leon was suddenly bombarded with images and voices he told himself to forget so many months ago.

Terror on _her_ lovely and beautiful face, long dark hair tangled with blood and sweat. Her weeping, grief and fear blended into a human cry. 'You said you'd protect me...!'

The fire and blood of his face being destroyed, an excruciated scream ripping from his vocal chords without even recognizing his own voice. 'If you live, consider this a warning to stay out of other's fights, boy.' 

'Squall, you bastard!' Bright blue eyes, normally friendly and welcoming, twisted in hate. 'How could you leave me here?' 

With a grunt, Leon shoved himself out of the memories, trying to find something, _anything_ else to think about. Frantically digging through memories, voices still chased him. _Why didn't you protect me, Squall? Why did you leave? You traitor, you deserter, you_ **coward**...

_'No!',_ he wanted to scream back. _'I'm not! I would have stayed, and, and fought! I would have...'_ He could only think the mantra over and over again: _I would have stayed. I would have stayed._

And without further ado, another memory pushed it's way to the front of his mind. _"Squall, what's wrong with your face?" Dark grey eyes peered up into his, inquisitively examining the wound that still bled days after. She reached up to touch but was quickly smacked away and the tantrum after that had lasted hours_ \- And of all things, it was remembering Yuffie's insensitive and completely tactless probing that pulled him out. 

Leon could focus on Yuffie. Memories of Aerith would be bitter for a long time; she always wanted to talk about things and discuss how they felt and wanting to deal with it when you couldn't _deal_ with things like this. But Yuffie didn't. He could almost believe she never remembered what happened, except for the crying and screaming at night he could hear through the walls. It had taken time, so much time, for the nightmares to begin to fade, but slowly Yuffie wasn't remembering every night. 

He could still remember when he had gotten up one morning and realized that Yuffie hadn't woken them up at all through the night. He had privately gone to her and asked her if she had dreamed that night. Yuffie shook her head, beaming. "No bad dreams!" she had said, pleased as anything. And that had been the first milestone: she was the first one to have a nightmare-free sleep. 

12:30. Leon blinked at the numbers and realized he'd been staring at the clock for the last ten minutes without even processing it. He'd been sitting here for far too long in his memories. He engaged the auto-pilot, triple-checked the coordinates, and shut down various manual controls, leaving only the emergency light on. 

When he got to the room he and Cid shared, he lay in bed for a while. It took him a few tries to get to sleep, and when he finally did drift off, he dreamed of angry faces getting smaller and flashes of dark hair in the corner of his eye. 

\--- 

It took half a day of Yuffie's screaming to make Leon cave and let her come into the cockpit the next day. She was used to coming in everyday and looking at the stars with Cid and sometimes Leon; yesterday had pushed her patience to the limits. 

"Cid, what's that?" Yuffie strained on tiptoes to point at the object out the window. 

"What's what?" Cid played dumb, leaning over her head chewing on an unlit cigarette. 

"That!" said Yuffie, standing even taller on her toes in an effort to point out what was perfectly obvious next to the stars. 

"I don't see it." 

"Cid!" exclaimed Yuffie, starting to show signs of losing her temper. 

In an effort to avoid an explosion, Leon quickly stepped in. "What do you think it is, Yuffie?" 

Eager to play, Yuffie scrunched up her face in thought. "A meteor?" 

"Nope," said Leon. He leaned back against the console and smirked. That expression of his made Yuffie frown even deeper. 

"An asteroid?" 

"Nope." 

"Wreckage?" Yuffie pronounced it carefully. 

"Nope." 

"Another ship?" 

"Nope." 

Yuffie was stumped and it showed. "Um..." 

"Well," said Leon, "when you have another guess, I'll tell you if you're right or wrong." 

"Squalllll!" Yuffie dragged his name out in frustration, but she had come back from the edge of losing it; the promise of a game had appeal. 

"Only when you have another guess," said Leon with finality. 

"Fine," said Yuffie and went to sit at the console proper so she could see the whole expanse of stars at once and think. Cid gave Leon a thankful look from the corner of his eye, and Leon shrugged in response. In the background, Aerith hid a smile. Leon was really becoming good at handling Yuffie... Learning what was fun for her, what calmed her down... Looking at these moments, Aerith would almost call him a natural with kids. Only if you ignored the bad times. 

"Well, I'm going to go check the pantry," said Aerith. 

"Thanks," said Leon. "See you in a few." 

Aerith left the cockpit with the last image in her mind being Yuffie on Cid's lap, eagerly looking at the sky and Leon looking on with a smile. It carried her through the monotony of the task in the kitchen with more happiness than she could remember. 

\--- 

Leon watched Cid and Yuffie looking at the stars, unsure of how he felt. On one hand, he was happy in his own way that they could both play a game and smile; it made something light in his chest rise, something good. But on the other hand... Well, he wasn't an idiot. He could remember. 

The memory still made him angry. 

Back when life was... Back then, Cid was a friend of the family. (Their families had all been acquainted and friendly at the very least, so it wasn't exactly four strangers on a ship.) For most of his life, Leon knew Cid as the big gruff but friendly mechanic, happily married to his wife Shera. He and Mrs. Highwind would come over every so often for supper and sometimes Leon would go and get his bike fixed at his shop. 

_Squall never spent a lot of time deeply thinking about Cid, but as the years passed, sometimes he would hear a whisper here and there about how 'Cid was sleeping on the couch, big surprise' and 'Cid found himself lost in the bottle again'. A teenaged Squall asked his parents what this meant, curious why people would gossip about the popular (or so he thought) Cid. His parents had glanced at each other, completely uncomfortable; his mom snorted lightly and told his dad he could explain it._

_His father had told him very strictly that he wasn't to speak of this to his friends ever and when Squall seriously nodded, he explained. "Cid gets in trouble sometimes... When I knew him when we were your age, he was really into the booze. You know, I'm sure you know people like that." His father tried a small grin, trying to lighten the mood and Squall had nodded, tentatively smiling. "But then Cid met Shera, and he really cleaned up. He made promises, made himself accountable, and he was clean for a really long time." His father hesitated. "But lately, Cid's... been having problems."_

_The talk went on, eventually ending with his father extracting a binding oath that he wouldn't drink unless with his parents or other supervision, but Squall looked at Cid differently after that. The issue fell under the radar for the next few years and Squall didn't think anything of it._

_But when their lives were suddenly destroyed, scarred and crippled forever, something dark came back. The first few days in the gummi ship - the hardest days - Leon could barely remember. They were blurred and delirious with pain and tears. But Leon could remember one day he and Aerith, both fainting, just couldn't deal with Yuffie. And they didn't know where Cid was._

_Aerith couldn't go on without lying down for a few minutes and Leon, exhausted and terrified, searched for Cid everywhere. (They locked Yuffie in his cabin temporarily.) Eventually, when he broke the rules and went into the engine room, he found Cid sitting slouched in a corner, drunk out of his mind. Empty and half-filled bottles lay there and it all stunk horribly even from where Leon stood._

_"Cid," Leon bit out the name. He couldn't believe it. He just couldn't believe he was seeing this._

_Cid seemed to just become aware of his presence, but didn't seem to recognize him. Not that it would have mattered, because Cid wasn't even in the same universe as Leon. "She's dead." Slurred and with his accent thicker than ever, Leon almost didn't understand him. "Shera's dead and goooooone." Cid lazily eyed the lip of his bottle but decided not to take another sip yet. "Thay took 'er. Wanna know whay thay took 'er?"_

_Mutely, Leon shook his head._

_"'Cause she was beeyoodaful, thas' whay!" In a rage, Cid slammed his free hand into the wall. "She was tha purdies' thang ever lived! Thas' why that took 'er..."_

_Leon was shaking. "Cid, get up."_

_"Th'eartless - " Cid hiccuped. " - eat us. Thas' what thay do. Thay make us like them." He looked up and moaned. "Mah beyoodaful Shera's a 'eartless. She's dark. She's evil."_

_Still shaking, Leon couldn't quite place what that lightheaded buzzing feeling in his head was, but he was sure it was somehow related to this intense burning desire to hit Cid as hard as he could._

_Cid suddenly came more awake with a jolt and he started talking louder and more anxiously, seeming to try and make Leon understand. "Thay came after tha dark uns first 'cuz thay were easy, and then tha light uns ta prove thay could! Now thay're gonna makum eat us!"_

_Unable to take any more, Leon swore and stormed out of the room. There was no way he was letting Aerith and Yuffie see Cid like this. Still furious, Leon realized the mood he was in and stopped himself before he went into either of the rooms. He swung around and stalked into the cockpit to compose himself. Throwing himself into the pilot's chair, he let his head fall into his heads and accidentally bumped the bandage on his still raw face, making his bad mood drop even lower._

_He drew deep, shaky breaths, trying to kill the urge to beat Cid to as much mincemeat. The minutes passed and the urge didn't go away, but his heart rate slowed down and Leon didn't feel like screaming anymore. When Leon felt ready to stand up, he coolly wiped the beginnings of moisture from his eyes and went to go see Aerith. They were all going to have an early night._

"I bet you're totally lying," said Yuffie. "It looks like a dragon!" Her nose wrinkled, Yuffie had her hands on her hips, emphasizing how right she believed she was. 

"Nope," said Cid, laughing. "That's a bear. That's totally a bear." He gently mocked her, reaching over to tweak her nose and she squealed. 

Leon blinked at the scene, startled by the lightness in both of them after the memories he'd been dredging up. As if he wasn't there, both Yuffie and Cid eagerly pointed out shapes in the bright dots surrounding them. They looked younger than ever, Yuffie actually a little girl and Cid the young man of twenty-seven he really was. 

Quietly, without them noticing, Leon excused himself to check out the engine room. When he was alone, he let himself smile. Maybe there was such thing as hope. 


	2. Hope Satisfied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally beta'd by con-affetto-kiko.tumblr.com

The next day was the day Yuffie guessed correctly, and as soon as Leon confirmed the word 'world' with a hesitant nod, there was an explosion of noise and energy. Yuffie ecstatically jumped around the cockpit. She kept swaying dangerously close to the console at times and constantly bellowed and sang 'It's a world! It's a world!' and no one felt like telling her to shut up.

The thing was, the fact that Yuffie had been able to guess so confidently also implied that there was no mistaking what it was. They were close enough to tell it was a world and that there was life on it. It had a dark look to it, but from the distance they were at, Aerith could see the lights of civilization. It was beautiful. 

Cid informed them that they'd reach the surface by tomorrow morning at the latest. So they spent the day in silence and stillness, sitting in the cockpit and watching the world get closer. They left only to get food from the pantry. 

Late into the night they sat there, and not one of them thought about bed. Cid went to grab blankets from a compartment in the back and covered the girls where they sat and put one around Leon's shoulders. He wrapped his legs and sat down, only making sure that his hands could reach the controls when he would need to. 

The atmosphere in the cockpit was breathless. Aerith was hardly aware of her own breathing; it felt like someone was squeezing her lungs so she could only take the shallowest of breaths. Everyone else seemed to be the same way. 

When the planet and all its darkness and lights were almost the only thing they could see, a gentle bell rang at the console. Cid leapt up and hurriedly keyed in numbers.

"Hello?" said Cid, his voice cracking on his near-panic.

"Greetings," said the woman on the other side, and they all sharply inhaled at the sound of another human voice. "This is Traverse Town. What is your ship?"

"Um - " There was a collection of beeps as Cid scanned through the database looking for the name and serial code that they had stopped caring about. "The, er, GS Shera, code india, foxtrot, er, alpha, lima, november, alpha, lima, india, uh, victor, echo, sierra."

There was a pause. "Where are you from? How many passengers are on board?" 

"Hollow Bastion," said Cid. "And including myself, there are four on board." 

"Very good," said the woman and her voice was warm. "Please land outside of the gates. You'll be welcomed and given directions to the shipyard." 

"Thank you," said Cid fervently.

"I'll end communi - "

"No!" cut off Cid, backed up with Aerith's quiet gasp of horror. Everyone in the room was frozen, dismayed at the idea of losing the human voice. "Um, sorry, just, um, what's your name? I'm Cid." 

The woman on the other end seemed surprised. "Oh, er, I'm Liliana. Hello, Cid."

"So, is this with the government? The welcoming committee, I mean. Or the military?" Cid was nearly babbling, just trying to keep Liliana on the line.

Liliana seemed to understand their need to hear a voice on the other end. "What passes for the government, yes. Do you see the gates now?" 

Cid frowned as he steered downwards. "I think so... There are wooden doors just marking off the city... Oh, I see people!" 

Liliana laughed, not unkindly, at Cid's excitement. "Yes, they'll either take you with them or just give you directions."

The ship shook as Cid made a landing and it was more turbulence than any of them had felt for a while. Cid turned around and looked at each of them. "Did you want to go with them? Find a place to sleep? I'll catch up with you later..." 

All three of them vigorously shook their heads. Cid smiled crookedly and opened the doors to the outside. "Alrighty, then." 

Rather than let people on to the Shera, Cid just got up and went outside to get the directions. Not that any of them weren't happy to see other people, but this ship was the only safe place they had. If it was compromised in any way, Aerith knew it would destroy them. They couldn't risk that. 

After a few minutes, Cid came back into the cockpit and sat down. "So, I know where we're going, and they'll be people waiting for us there. They'll take us to the hotel where we'll stay for a little while." He lifted the ship up. "You still there, Liliana?"

"Yes. Were the directions clear?" 

"No problems, sweetheart. Just a couple landmarks to make turns at..." Cid trailed off as he steered carefully. "You all get your stuff. Leon, make me up a bag, would you?" 

"Sure," said Leon and the three of them left to their rooms. No one spoke as they quickly threw clothes and treasures into bags they could throw over their shoulders. Yuffie especially seemed to concentrate on getting all the books into her bag before Aerith took half of them so Yuffie could actually fit clothes in. After the impromptu packing job, they met Leon in the hallway with two bags on his arm. 

"I'll grab the blankets and pillows," Aerith offered, and Leon took her bag while she ran into their rooms and took all the bedding. She hurried back out with it all tucked under her arms. The three of them shared a look for a moment. Aerith didn't know about the others, but she could hardly swallow and speaking was an effort; she didn't know how to describe how she was feeling. Empty, weightless. 

Leon seemed to understand and hesitantly offered a smile. "Unbelievable, right?" 

Aerith just nodded, feeling herself tremble. How was she supposed to react...? 

Yuffie was grinning widely at the both of them. "I'm gonna go see Cid, okay?" she said, and before either Leon or herself could react, Yuffie had run back to the cockpit. Aerith and Leon quietly stood left behind, without words for the moment, before Aerith realized something. "The food!" 

"I'll go grab another bag," said Leon and he put down the bags to go to the kitchen. Aerith, by herself in the corridor, just leaned against the wall, just trying to breathe past the obstruction in her throat. This was too much, way, way too fast. She took several deep breaths and stood back up, feeling just a little bit more strength, and decided to go to the cockpit herself. 

Cid appeared to be nearing the shipyard. A large field filled with ships of all sizes and shapes decorated the yard, neatly lined up, and the whole place filled with light. 

"That's bright," commented Yuffie, and Cid nodded.

"The better that they can see thieves with," he said, smiling exaggeratedly at the girl. 

"Not quite," said Liliana, a smile in her voice. "We just need to see our ships."

"So you leave the lights on all night?" asked Cid in disbelief, beginning to focus on getting to the landing dock.

Liliana had a roar of a laugh for such a delicate sounding lady. "All night? It's three in the afternoon!" 

Aerith blinked several times in surprise. This was the afternoon? Was this world nocturnal or did they just never have daylight? Well, she wasn't complaining; this was a place with people and buildings and safety, which was more than they had before. 

"But it's so dark! It looks like night time!" said Yuffie. Apparently this threw her logic centers into something of a tizzy, if the puzzled frown on her face was any indication.

"Well, it's always dark here," said Liliana. "That's just Traverse Town." (Yuffie continued to think hard about this.) 

Cid landed the ship, lining up with the platform. "Okay, we're here. Grab your stuff, Yuff." The girl ran to grab the bag she dropped by the door. 

"Can I end communication now?" asked Liliana. 

"Yeah," said Cid. "Thanks for hanging on with us." 

"No problem," said Liliana. "Maybe I'll see you all around the town sometime." 

"Hope so," said Cid. "See you." He keyed in another few numbers, and the channel closed. Just after, Leon walked in with four bags on his arms. 

"We ready to go?" he asked. 

"Sure," said Cid. "Just let me close 'er down..." With a few adjustments of buttons, levers and knobs, the Shera shut down for the first time in a long time. Suddenly everyone's ears were ringing with the silence they didn't know they were missing. 

"Huh," said Cid. "Forgot what that's like." 

With one final check around the ship, they left their home of the last several months. The bags over their shoulders contained every personal possession to their name, except for Leon who had his gunblade Lionheart sheathed at his waist. Though there was no escaping the fact that they were ruined, Aerith had never felt poor. But when she stepped out into the town, she felt they were downright destitute. 

A man and a woman were there waiting for them, and while they weren't somber, they did have a serious air about them. Aerith noted the large guns holstered at their hips and slung over their backs. 

But serious or not, they still managed smiles.

"Congratulations for making it," said the man. "I'm Hakim and this is Chikere." The woman nodded, seeming to try and memorize their faces in the glances she took. "Would you like help with your things?" He held out a brown hand. 

"Um..." Aerith trailed off, but before she could refuse, Chikere had come forward and taken some of the blankets she was struggling with. 

"Here." Her voice was warm and soft, and it fit her thin, dark face perfectly. 

"T-thank you," said Aerith, stuttering as she rearranged what she had left in her arms. 

"What about you, little one?" asked Hakim, stepping towards Yuffie. Yuffie had no qualms about handing over her bag and Aerith and Leon huffed while Hakim and Chikere laughed quietly. 

"Let children be a little childish," said Chikere, and Yuffie grinned up at her, clearly understanding that she wasn't in trouble for not carrying anything. 

"Well, let's go," said Hakim. "It's a decent walk, so I hope you're all up to it." 

Aerith left the shipyard feeling anxious flutters in her chest. She trailed behind, watching everyone. Yuffie was practically bouncing, kept with the group only because she was too busy chattering to Chikere about anything and everything that crossed her mind, from how mean Leon was when he made her eat everything on her plate to how cool the street lights here were. Hakim had made quick friends with the boys, explaining a little about the town in his slow, softly accented voice; Cid was nodding along and Leon's eyes, politely rested on Hakim's face most of the time, kept sliding to his large rifle. 

She never thought she ever had a problem with pride, but Aerith found herself ashamed of what little they had. It wasn't that Traverse Town was especially fancy or well-to-do. But it was together. They had intact buildings, shops and homes, where people had jobs and families and lives. The four of them had nothing. 

Though apparently she was the only one who felt that way. That, Aerith could be thankful for. For the other three, it was enough that they had their lives and their hearts, intact and whole. Suddenly bitter, Aerith wished that could be good enough for her, too.

\---

The hotel was nice, but more than that, it was comfortable - almost homey. Aerith commented on that while looking through the rooms they were given. Chikere smiled sadly. "Well, yes... New arrivals like yourselves might end up staying here for a while. This might even be your home here." 

Leon, who was unpacking in earshot, turned to her with a frown. "Why?" 

Chikere lifted her shoulders in a small shrug, sighing wearily. "It's... It's just Traverse Town."

"What do you mean?" asked Aerith. 

"Well," said Chikere, sitting down on a bed. "You might have noticed this isn't your usual world." 

"Not that we've had much experience," said Leon. It might have been an attempt at humour except Aerith had learned the difference between Leon being serious and Leon being sardonic. 

"Well, it isn't," said Chikere. "And it isn't about the darkness, either, that's just the quirk - "

"Quirk?" asked Aerith, nearly cutting her off. 

She didn't seem to mind, though. "Yes, the quirk. Every world has something that sets it apart from the others. We were just blessed with eternal night time, that's all." 

Leon snorted; Aerith blinked, almost missing the sarcasm. 

"But continuing on," said Chikere, "what I mean about Traverse Town is that it's... artificial. There are no natives. Everyone you see here has come from somewhere else." She waved an all-encompassing arm, gesturing all around the room.

"A giant refugee camp," said Leon. 

"Basically, yes," agreed Chikere. "Everything here came from what survived Heartless attacks. We don't have any natural materials here to build with, we just have to wait until there's another attack and what shows up, we use. It all just gathers here, so there's so worry about that. It's why we can't just put you in a house, or give you jobs right away. There's nothing here yet."

"So I guess you have a pretty tangled economy," said Aerith, half-jokingly. 

Chikere laughed. "It is a mess, definitely." 

"How does it work?" Leon had completely abandoned unpacking. 

"Well, it's sort of a mix between trade and currency. It can't be regulated, so you pretty much go on your own." Chikere seemed to be thinking. "I'll let you learn the ins and outs of it by yourselves, but we use munny. Did you have that on your world?"

Aerith and Leon exchanged a look. 

"We had gil..." said Aerith hesitantly.

Chikere reached into her pocket and pulled out several small orbs. "This is munny. We get it from the Heartless." She waved away both of their startled looks at the mention of the name. "What is it?"

"The Heartless? They're here?" demanded Leon, sputtering, and Aerith's white-knuckled hands twisted in her lap. 

"Yes..." said Chikere. "It's where we get our currency, and mostly why it's so complicated - "

"That's not what the problem is!" burst out Leon, and Aerith shakily drew in breath, silently agreeing with him. "Screw the economy! There are Heartless here?! I thought - we thought they were gone! We thought they wouldn't be here!" 

Chikere looked hard at both of them for a long moment. When she spoke next, the softness of her voice had disappeared, and a soldier was speaking out of her mouth. "I wish I could tell you that it's different. Everyone I see come here wishes that the Heartless were gone forever, that they could just start over again and pretend that it never happened. That's what I thought when I came here." 

Uncomfortable, Aerith accidentally caught Leon's eye and they both looked away as if burned. 

"But I won't let you insult your dead family and friends that way," said Chikere. "And for another thing, if you went around here thinking there was no reason to worry, it'd be a death sentence." She patted her guns. "These aren't decorations, you know." 

She paused to let that sink in. Aerith felt dread sink into her bones, and a cold weight settle in her stomach. 

"It's not the news you want to hear," said Chikere slowly. Her voice was grim, almost to the point of menacing. "But take it for the favour it is." Taking in the mood of the room, Chikere's face lost some tension and she rubbed her forehead almost regretfully. "I had better go."

She stood up and left; but before she opened the door, she turned back. "I almost forgot - stay out of the third district. At least for the next little while." The door clicked close. 

The room was dead silent. Aerith stared blankly at her hands, not knowing how to feel. What was she supposed to feel? Was there a chapter in _The Eight Habits of Greatly Effective People_ that had the appropriate response to this?

"Fuck." 

Aerith jumped at both the sound and the curse, and turned to see Leon glaring at the wall. 

"Fuck," he repeated, louder.

"Leon," said Aerith softly, scared and wanting him to stop. 

"Fuck!" he yelled as if he hadn't heard her (and perhaps he hadn't). "This isn't fair. This isn't fucking fair!" 

"Leon," said Aerith again and instantly regretted it when Leon whipped around, eyes blazing with fury. 

"This isn't fucking fair, Aerith! Why can't life just work for us? WHY CAN'T IT?!" He was almost howling. Aerith tried to stop herself from shaking but couldn't. Not when Leon was actually losing it in the corner. She had to stop, she knew that, she had to stop - 

"Damn it, Aerith, answer me!" Leon grabbed her by the shoulders and started to shake her. Panicked, Aerith did the only thing she could before Leon actually hurt her - she sacked him. 

He never saw it coming. 

"Shit!" Yelling with a different kind of pain, Leon went down. He lay there groaning. Just in case, Aerith quickly got up and moved to the other side of the room; she waited until the pained grunts quieted down. When that came, she cautiously moved and sat down on the bed, her feet by Leon's head. She put her elbows on her knees and leaned down, meeting his eyes while he caught his breath. He made no attempt to move beyond minor twitches. 

"I don't know, Leon," she said. He looked away. "I don't know." 

"It's just..." Leon sat up, trying to think of what to say. Suddenly he punched the floor so hard Aerith expected his fist to come up bloody. "It's... not fair," he muttered weakly. 

"I know." 

The two of them sat there quietly. Aerith watched the dark thoughts swirling behind Leon's eyes, blossoming into hopelessness on his face and realized that she had no idea what to say. She had nothing to say and nothing to do to make it better, nothing to soften the blow, nothing that would take away the fact that the fight wasn't over. It would never be over. Vaguely she wondered if the look on her face matched his or if hers was more despairing.

"I better keep unpacking," he said roughly and walked back to where his bag was lying open by the dresser. He accidentally brushed the still-sheathed Lionheart and it fell over.

It was curious, thought Aerith, that she somehow couldn't shake the feeling that Leon's gunblade wanted nothing to do with him. 

Leon himself ignored it and simply kept putting clothes into the drawers. With that, Aerith decided that it was time she left Leon alone to do some unpacking of her own. 

The two of them were connected only by an open doorway for a few more hours, just unpacking and making adjustments around the rooms, making them feel more comfortable. There were two beds in Aerith's room, which she figured made it officially the girls room. After unpacking Yuffie's clothes, she surreptitiously walked by Leon's room and saw, and as she thought, just the one bed. 

She didn't comment, however, just continued fixing up her room as best as she could. Aerith guessed it had something to do with the fact that Yuffie was only a child and here where there were Heartless, giving a seven-year old a room to herself would almost certainly spell disaster. So Cid's room would be the one on the other side, and Aerith confirmed it when she opened the door across from Leon's and saw Cid's bag sitting on the lone bed. 

A smart-alec voice in the back of her mind speculated that the ones who had chosen the rooms for them were chauvinistic, but Aerith dismissed that because really, she wasn't going to complain about having a man on either side. (If you would call Leon a man, but back on Hollow Bastion, he had already been a SeeD unit leader at the young age of fifteen. She could draw her own conclusions.) 

Before Aerith would call the job finished, the door to the hallway opened and Cid walked in, Yuffie in tow. 

"Hey, you guys," she said. At the sound of her greeting, Leon wandered in and stood in the threshold. 

"Where were you?" he asked. 

"Just getting a look around town," said Cid. "Yuffster here wouldn't take no for an answer. We mostly just walked around the first district. How did you two make out?" 

"Kept busy," said Aerith. "Unpacked, moved some things around." 

"Where's my bed?" asked Yuffie, eagerly looking around. 

"That one," said Aerith, and pointed to the one against the wall by Leon's room. "What time is it?" She aimed the question at Cid, who shrugged.

"Seven," he said. "Maybe eight, I guess." 

Aerith speculatively looked at Yuffie. "Well, we all need to catch up on sleep, anyway. Come on, Yuffie, bed time." 

The girl huffed, but didn't complain; apparently she herself could feel how tired she was. 

"Here, I'll get the boys out so you can change," said Aerith. She gave Cid and Leon pointed looks, who jumped and went into their respective rooms. Aerith went to the main door, and locked it. Then she went to the window, locked it, and pulled the curtains closed. "There." 

She turned around to find Yuffie already digging through the drawers. Aerith sighed and decided not to clean that all up tonight. Even though she had organized things the same way as in the Shera... 

Within minutes, Yuffie was in pajamas and under the covers. Yuffie knew to look away as Aerith changed, and when she was done, went over to Yuffie's bed. 

"No story tonight, honey," said Aerith, smoothing Yuffie's hair. "Come get me if you need me, okay?" 

"Okay," said Yuffie. She yawned and turned onto her side. Aerith continued running her fingers through Yuffie's hair until she was sure the girl was asleep. Then she got up, turned the lights off, and went to bed herself. What a day. Exhausted physically and emotionally, she wasn't laying there long before she fell asleep. Before she drifted off, Aerith rubbed her arms briefly, feeling the grip of phantom fingers. _Forget it_ , she told herself. Soon, she was deep in dreamless sleep.


	3. Flights of Fancy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, lord, remind me to never do this kind of formatting again.
> 
> Originally beta'd by con-affetto-kiko.tumblr.com

  

    
    
      _Come hereeeeee, little girlllll_
    

  

    
    
    	                                                                         **Hey moron she's not coming forget it**

  

    
    
    	                                                 'You're just cynical. Let him have his chance.'

  

    
    
    	                                    |||What is it about this one anyway|||

  

    
    
                                                                                    **His phrase was "tastyyyyyy"**

  

    
    
      _Come hereeee, little oneeee, I won't hurt youuuuuu_
    

  

    
    
    	                                                 'I hear they look down on lying in the world of light. Wouldn't want to upset them.'

  

    
    
    	  \\quit acting like you care//

  

    
    
    	                                                 'It's called humour, loser.'

  

    
    
    	  \\get a life and steal some hearts like you're not a freak//

  

    
    
    	                                                                          **Guys shut up he's getting needy**

  

    
    
    _Little girlllll, come hereeeee, I want youuuuuu_
    

  

    
    
    	                                   |||I think I hear something|||

  

    
    
    	                                                  'She's getting away.'

  

    
    
      _Get back hereeee, youuuuuu little whoreeeee....!_
    

  

    
    
    	                                                                           **Oh leave it it's over she's gone -**

  


Yuffie woke up in tears, screaming silently into the hands she had instinctively clapped over her mouth. When she remembered where she was, she slowly unlocked her shaking hands from her mouth and realized she had shot into a sitting position as she woke up. As her heartbeat slowed, she listened hard for Aerith, but she only heard the calm, regular breathing of the older girl as she slept. 

She didn't know what it was, but Yuffie didn't want to wake up Aerith. This one... This one was worse. Yuffie knew the others talked about things, more grown-up things, when she wasn't around but she couldn't understand what could be so much more serious than what she saw and heard at night. She shivered suddenly and became very aware of the darkness pressing in around her. 

Too much, too much, too much. Without thinking much about it, Yuffie got out of bed. She hesitated for a second when she looked in the direction of Aerith's bed, but still felt like - not her. 

So Yuffie stepped quietly and carefully to the connecting room, pushing open the door to Squall's room. She waited to see if either Aerith or Squall woke up, but the door hadn't squeaked and no change in breathing... She slowly clicked the door closed and went over to Squall's bed. 

Looking down at him, Yuffie started having second thoughts and turned back. Then she froze. It was even darker. The way to Squall's room had been slightly lighter, a lighter black than the suffocating miasma that was the way back to Aerith. Too late now. 

So she turned back to Squall, taking a big breath. Slowly, she reached out a hand and gently shook him. He stiffened with a sharp breath, and his hand shot out, grabbing her wrist tightly. She couldn't help a gasp but was proud of herself for mostly not making noise. 

Squall's eyes open blearily and he squinted in her general direction. "Whozzat - Yuffie?" 

Squirming, Yuffie tried to pry his hand off. "Yeah." 

Dazedly Squall shook his head, trying to see better. He let her go. "Yuffie, what - what're you doin' here?" Sleep slurred his words as he tried to wake up. 

"I - I had a bad dream." 

Squall stared at her blankly for what seemed forever in the darkness, then closed his eyes and put his head back down. "Go see Aerith." 

"No!" whispered Yuffie fearfully, starting to panic at Squall's apathy. "It's - it's dark back there." 

"Yuffie, it's dark in here, too." 

"But it's darker _there_!" said Yuffie. "Please, Squall? I'm really scared." 

He groaned and looked up, staring her straight in the eye. "It was a really bad one?" 

"It was the worst one ever." Yuffie tried to make her voice strong, but it still wavered badly thinking about those voices and those horrible yellow eyes and things scratching in the darkness...

Squall heaved a giant sigh. He shifted and pulled the cover up. "Get in, then." 

Relieved, Yuffie hastily crawled in and pressed herself close to Squall. He dropped the blanket over her with his arm. 

"They can't get you here," was all he said, encircling her shoulders with his arm.

Yuffie didn't say anything, just tried to drown out the images with Squall. _They can't get me, they can't get me, they can't get me..._

Within minutes, she was asleep and breathing deeply. Squall heaved another, deeper sigh and pulled her closer. When she didn't show any signs of another nightmare, he let himself drift off again. She didn't dream.

\---

Aerith pushed the door open in a panic and immediately began babbling. She hurriedly to flick on the ceiling light and get him out of bed. 

"Leon, have you seen Yuffie?! She wasn't in her bed when I - oh." 

At the sudden light, Yuffie and Leon both scrunched their faces and moaned. Yuffie withdrew under the covers, whereas Leon just covered his eyes with a hand so he could work on adjusting his eyes to the light.

Even still, all that came out of his mouth was, "Huh?" 

When he didn't get an answer, he attempted to open his eyes and squinted at Aerith. She seemed to be trying to stop herself from having a heart attack. 

Concerned, Leon turned from his back into his side so he could get a better look at her. "You okay?" Even to himself, his voice was rough and bearlike. Quickly, he cleared his throat. 

"Y-yes," said Aerith, still shaken. "I was just - _damn_ , Leon..." She reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "I - " Leon watched her struggle to compose herself, fighting the visible tears in her eyes. Uncomfortable and for her privacy, he looked away towards the curtains. 

"Aerith," said Yuffie, still moaning. "Why'd you turn on the light?" 

Aerith stared at her, apparently not knowing what to say. After a few minutes of awkward eye contact, Aerith rubbed her face again. "Yuffie, I didn't know where you were. I was really scared."

"Oh," said Yuffie. She looked at Leon, as if asking what to do. He meaningfully rolled his eyes towards Aerith. _Say sorry_ , he mouthed to her. "Oh," said Yuffie again in understanding. She rolled over to see Aerith better. "Sorry, Aerith." 

Aerith nodded, firmly but worn. "Okay, Yuffie, but... Next time, can you tell me when you go see Leon?" 

Slowly, Yuffie nodded back. "Okay." 

"Aerith, what time is it?" asked Leon, eying the window even though he knew it would be dark all day long.

"Um..." Aerith shrugged. "I haven't checked yet, I just rushed over when I realized..." She ducked into her room where she knew where the clock was. "It's six," she called, and came back in.

Leon groaned and rolled, facing down into his pillow. "Can I sleep more?"

Aerith giggled, sounding strained. "Um, go for it. I need some more sleep, too. I'll come back in a few hours, I guess. Are you going to stay with Leon, Yuffie?" 

Yuffie nodded vigorously; Leon made noise into his pillow similar to 'Yuffie, why?' and Aerith laughed for real. 

"I'll see you two later." She turned off the light and closed the door gently. Yuffie happily burrowed under the covers again, sinking into the depression she had created in the mattress. Leon, seeing nothing else to do, sighed and lay down in the same position. He had a pleasant few hours of dozing, with the only noise being Yuffie's slow and regular breathing.

\--- 

Later, when they had all slowly and reluctantly gotten out of bed and ready for the day, there came a knock at the girls' door. Aerith opened it to find Hakim and Chikere again, both looking the same as when they first met them yesterday: serious but pleasant.

"Hello?" she said. "What's going on?"

Chikere smiled but was careful when she met Aerith's eyes, clearly remembering yesterday's conversation. "Nothing's happened, if that's what you were asking."

"That's good," said Aerith. "Er... Come in?"

"Thanks," said Chikere and they stepped in just to the main area. "Is everyone available for a few minutes?"

"I'll check," said Aerith, and when she had peeked into both of the mens' rooms and gotten all of them gathered in the girls' room. "So what's up?"

"Just looking in on you," said Hakim pleasantly. "Making sure you all still exist."

"Well, we're here," said Cid. "What can we do for you?"

"Actually," said Chikere, smiling slightly, "this may sound silly, but we'd like to ask that all of you come out into our streets. Come and see people, so they can see you."

"You really believe in community that much, huh?" said Leon, crossing his arms.

Hakim laughed. "One says that, until one realizes how suspicious people are here. Making sure everyone sees everyone means that we know who's a resident and who's a stranger - you can't be too careful."

Grudgingly, Aerith saw their point. They could all understand paranoia.

"Well," said Cid, "we're all dressed, I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Great," said Chikere. "Let's go, then." 

She and Hakim led them out of the hotel and to the lobby. They paused there for a quick moment while Hakim pointed out where they could get food, do their laundry, and everything else they needed within the building. 

Outside, the cheery light from the lamps met them and the sound of human voices going about their business. It was vividly surreal, though Aerith, to hear so many human voices at one time. Even more so to actually see people walking around. 

Hakim and Chikere led them all around the relaxed bustle of the first district, introducing them to people as they worked, people sitting at the cafés and restaurants, the shopkeepers and most people who were passing by. The men and women seemed tense at first, barely making eye contact and handshakes were perhaps tighter than they should have been, but once names were exchanged, they visibly relaxed. Hakim and Chikere smoothed over every meeting and soon, they were all fast acquaintances with Nyx who sold potions and Edlène the maid who had cleaned maybe every house in town and Camille and Renaud who together ran the makeshift mayor's office, to name but a few. 

"It's so lively," breathed Aerith, seized by the atmosphere that was quiet and yet filled with the humming energy of real activity. She savoured the sound of hearing her own voice speaking over other conversations in the background. For months, the hum of their ship's engine was the only backdrop to conversation. Even from this small street they were walking on, people seemed to find great satisfaction in greeting each other they passed; bizarre, thought Aerith, that people would be so happy to see each other but still be so suspicious all the time. In a way, though, it did make sense in a strange way. You could be happy to see another human being and still not trust them as a person. It was sad, that even though they had come so far to see other people, making real honest good friends with them seemed so impossible. 

"Isn't it?" said Hakim, sounding pleased. "The first district is our pride and joy, so to speak. It's been complete for a little while now and it's been without Heartless since we finished it."

"It's something to be proud of," said Chikere, smiling.

Aerith sneaked a look at Cid and Yuffie as they walked. Neither of them had been there with Chikere when she told them about the Heartless last night. Cid merely nodded, but maybe Aerith was only imagining the skin around his eyes tightening. Yuffie looked visibly upset but didn't say anything, just clung to Cid tighter. Aerith resisted sighing out loud, but she wished she could without seeming critical of Chikere. The woman was only doing her job and genuinely trying to take care of them. 

They ended their impromptu walk-around in front of the café, which was far enough away from the busy-ness of the district to be private and still close enough to still be a part of it. 

"So, now that you've seen part of our small town," said Hakim, "is there anything in particular you'd like to see?" 

"Sorry?" said Cid. 

"Well," said Hakim, "surely you'd like to find some ways to fill your time." 

Aerith and Leon exchanged glances. 

"We hadn't thought of that," admitted Aerith. 

Obviously skeptical, Leon snorted. "It hasn't really been the first thing on our minds," he said, half sneering. 

"It will be, though," said Chikere. She sat down at one of the larger tables and gestured, inviting them to sit down as well. "This initial stage of adjustment won't last long." 

"Especially for you four, I imagine," said Hakim, sitting down next to Chikere. Feeling rude, Aerith took a seat on the other side of Chikere and the others followed suit. 

"What do you mean?" she asked. 

Hakim and Chikere glanced at each other, then shrugged lightly. "I suppose you wouldn't have noticed," said Hakim. "We keep forgetting how the uniqueness of your arrival would affect your perception." 

"The uniqueness?" echoed Cid. "We came in my gummi ship. That's not unique." 

"Not unique?" said Chikere, smiling. "Tell me, how many gummi ships did you see in the yard?" 

There was an uncomfortable pause as the four of them realized they couldn't remember. 

"A lot?" said Yuffie, eyes squinted in thought. 

Leon eyed the girl for a second before Cid presented a real estimate. "Twenty?" Aerith couldn't remember the shipyard well enough, she just remembered it seemed to be filled with ships and light. 

"Eleven," said Hakim. "Twelve including yours." 

Aerith unconsciously shifted in surprise. How could it have looked like so many? It must have been the novelty. 

"And most of those we built here with the supplies that came," continued Hakim. "Of all the people in Traverse Town, only nineteen of them came by ship. Now twenty-three. Three ships came from Hollow Bastion." 

"Are gummi ships rare on other worlds?" asked Cid, hesitant for the normally very direct man. 

Hakim shrugged. "To the extent of our knowledge, yes, very. However, we're missing the point of all this. People like you who come by ship have time, weeks and months of travel, to adjust and live autonomously by yourselves. Coming here is not such a big change when you've already realized how different your life is going to be." 

"It's the ones who show up out of nowhere, directly from their worlds to this town, that have all the hurdles to jump," said Chikere. "I know it's hard to imagine, but can you think of what it might have been like to find yourself lost in darkness, the way it was when the Heartless attacked you, and then all at once be in a strange town with strange people and listen to them tell you everyone you know is dead or worse?"

Aerith carefully ruminated on that, trying to detach herself from the grief and fury that welled up in response to remembering that day. "Impossible," she murmured. 

"Except they do learn," said Hakim. "They do manage after a while..." He trailed off, looking into the empty space between them and the plaza. 

They sat quietly, not looking at each other, until Yuffie started fidgeting with the edge of the table and Aerith gently covered her smaller hands with her own. 

"So now what?" said Leon. He was sitting with the barest hint of a slouch, arms crossed and a heavy frown on his face. Typical Leon, thought Aerith. 

"Back onto finding something for you to occupy yourselves," said Hakim, leaning forward. "Is there anything you had in mind?" 

Aerith thought about the chores she did to keep things on the ship running as smoothly as possible, but for living in a town? What she had to offer felt like nothing. 

"I want to fight." 

Leon caught them all off guard by speaking first. Still crossing his arms, he was looking down at the table with his jaw set firmly.

Cid snorted. "There's a surprise." 

Yuffie frowned at Leon, clearly unhappy. "Why?" she asked, reaching over to push him as roughly as she could manage from a sitting position. 

Leon's glare, though not exactly angry, wasn't anything approaching mild. "Because," he said sharply. "I just want to." 

Hakim regarded him, all of a sudden somber. "You've thought about this, I hope." 

"I've been fighting since I was a child," said Leon. "I'm not about to stop now." His eyes, forcibly blanked of emotion for most of the walk around town, now reflected steely blue, like the sheen of his gunblade. 

That seemed to be good enough for Hakim, who nodded like that was exactly the answer he'd expected. "I'll meet you tomorrow morning outside of the hotel, then." 

Chikere searched Aerith's face but Aerith avoided eye contact with the older woman, instead began tracing the whorls in the tabletop. Rather than sigh, Chikere just shifted and Aerith looked up in time to see her smile ruefully. 

"There's really no rush," said Chikere, now making sure she was speaking to the entire table. "I don't suppose any of you have anywhere else to be, so take whatever time you need." She gestured widely, drawing their attention to the many rooftops in the middle of town. "Even if it's nothing steady, there are always people who need something done." 

"Well," said Cid, "I'm sure we'll find something." His tone was friendly enough, but after he said it, Chikere and Hakim stood up. 

"Just remember, it's not a rush," said Chikere. She adjusted her belt, which had ridden up as she sat, revealing twin pistols. "I'll check up with you in a few days, if that's okay." 

Aerith nodded, jerking her eyes off the guns. "Yes, of course." 

"I'll see you," said Hakim to Leon, who nodded, and then the two departed with smiles, walking in the general direction of the second district. 

After they'd disappeared around the corner, Aerith turned a disapproving eye on Leon. Rather than ignore it or glare, Leon merely met her eyes unflinchingly. "What?"

"You're going to keep fighting Heartless?" 

Leon frowned disbelievingly. "Why are you angry?" 

"I'm not angry," said Aerith, mirroring his expression. "I just don't understand." 

"What's not to understand?" asked Cid, now standing up. "He wants to keep fighting, it's that simple." He glanced around the square. "I'm going to head back to the hotel, will you three be okay without me?" 

They nodded stiffly and with a good-bye, Cid headed back in the direction of the hotel. They sat in uncomfortable silence. When Yuffie began to fiddle with a loose splinter on the table, the movement drew Aerith and Leon's attention away from each other.

Aerith broke the silence. "Yuffie, I'm going to walk around town some more, do you want to come?" 

"Okay," said Yuffie, face lifting with a grin. Aerith attempted to smile back as she led the girl back into the streets, leaving Leon sitting there, but she felt too sour for her heart to be in it. Yuffie of course didn't want to stay back and hold Aerith's hand as they walked, so it was up to Aerith to remain focused and keep an eye on her as she ran over to whatever caught her interest. To a seven-year old stuck in the same place for months, Traverse Town had everything of interest. 

What was Leon thinking? He couldn't honestly be thinking of fighting more, could he? But for him to say it so quickly, without any hesitation, he must have been thinking about it constantly. 

She hadn't been lying back at the café; she wasn't angry. 

Following Yuffie's activity but inside thoroughly engaged in what she would never say to Leon, Aerith grimaced, a mockery of a smile. How would she, how would they, ever be able to cope with losing him? No, she thought, she wasn't angry. She was terribly, terribly afraid. 

\---

Blue eyes stared out but saw nothing. He lifted his hand in front of his face, wiggled his fingers, but couldn't see anything. 

Where was he? What place could possibly be so dark? Slowly, he did a self-inventory. He was wearing his usual clothes, the sleeveless sweater and pants bloused in his boots that met the regulation grooming standards, his shoulder guard and of course, the Buster Sword hanging as heavily as usual over his back. 

Now that he was sure body and coverings were intact (though he wasn't one hundred percent on his eyesight, what with the suffocating darkness), Cloud took a step. Solid ground beneath his feet. Good. 

So he took another step, and another. At first, it seemed to be uncannily flat and level ground. But after a minute of carefully picking his steps, he realized that the ground wasn't perfectly flat, felt solid like rock and was actually at a slight downwards incline. Wherever he was going, it was down. 

Every few minutes, he couldn't stop himself from reaching back and making sure the Buster Sword was still securely in its sheath. The weight never went away but somehow feeling the straps and buckles holding it there was reassuring. He wasn't alone in the darkness, even if his only companion was a piece of refined and sharpened metal that was incapable of speaking a single word. 

After a long period of walking (five minutes? Twenty minutes? An hour?), Cloud froze and jumped backwards, hand on Buster's hilt. He didn't call for someone to identify themselves like he might have if this was a normal walk around the city outskirts, just studied the area in front of him. He stood there in ready position for a moment before he all of a sudden laughed at himself when he realized what had happened and put Buster away. 

It's a common physical reaction when people look too hard into darkness, whether it's because they press the heels of their hands hard against their eyes or if there's really no light, strange shapes appear and they dance across your vision with no rationale behind it. I'm seeing spots, he thought, chuckling out loud. 

He kept walking down the path, if that's what it was. So focused was he on making sure there was solid ground beneath each of his next steps, Cloud didn't notice when slowly, slowly, slowly, something approaching light was up ahead. In fact, it was so subtle, Cloud had to look forward and backward several times before he could be reasonably sure there was even a difference. 

The only thing he could do was keep walking; standing there trying to figure out if that shade of black was lighter than the shade of black he'd woken up to was pointless. 

And slowly, Cloud was convinced there really was light ahead. _Like they say,_ he remembered with a small twist to his lips, _if you see light at the end of the tunnel, the train's coming._ Amused, he began stepping more confidently as the light grew brighter and brighter. 

And the closer he got, the more exponentially the brightness became. And as he went, Cloud was sure he could see colour. This light was green. 

Soon, the light filled his vision and it seemed like daytime, though washed-out. Things about his surroundings became apparent, like the fact he was apparently in a cave, hollowed and chiseled rock somewhere. There was no other life to be seen. All these revelations brought more questions. If this is underground, why is there light? Does that mean someone lives here? 

Gaia, this was boring.

After what seemed an eternity of walking and looking forward to a year of aching feet, Cloud turned the only corner in the tunnel so far and saw where the light was coming from.

A huge cavern, with lakes of glowing green liquid, stalactites, stalagmites and bizarre mist filling it. 

"Well... If it isn't a human." 

Cloud whipped around, Buster already out and pointing towards...

A transparent dog-bull-rat-thing made of blue fire. 

"W-whu - ugh - whu - " He tried to resist gawking at the same time as trying not to have a heart attack at the scare. 

The thing blazed bright cerulean seemingly in amusement. "Well, don't die or anything." It was a voice like no other, a high clear pitched bell but as if there was deep rumbling static under it.

Buster wavered slightly before Cloud tightened his grip. "What are you?" 

"Interesting question," it said. "Vastly different connotations from the question 'who am I', which I will answer regardless of the fact you didn't ask it." A wide grin, revealing sharp, though immaterial, teeth. Cloud shuddered. "Buster is a fascinating name for a companion. You may call me by a similar one. Boomer." 

Cloud, alarmed by this thing's knowledge of his sword's name, didn't have a response. 

"Now," said Boomer, paying little attention to Cloud's emotional state, "since as it so happens I'm not an outsider and you do rather look like one, I think I have the right to ask who you are and what you're doing here. And put Buster down, he won't do you much good."

Cloud swallowed and slowly let his sword rest against the ground. "Cloud. I have no idea what I'm doing here." 

"Does anyone?" said Boomer, eyes crinkled in laughter. The sight put Cloud more on edge than when Boomer had shown teeth. "Well, Cloud, you've caught my interest. I will accompany you, at least for a little while." 

"Terrific," muttered Cloud, sheathing Buster and turning to walk the path in between the green lakes. 

Floating alongside him, Boomer cocked his head to the side, seemingly listening to something. "What is that you're dreaming of, Cloud? Be honesssst." The childish plea from Boomer was jarringly dissonant. 

On a whim, Cloud decided to play along and tossed his answer over his shoulder. "Light." 

Boomer's eyes brightened at that. "Well, aren't you dramatic? Hmm - " Boomer leaned closer, floating close to Cloud's face. " - but everyone knows that it's the path that slopes gently downwards that leads to hell."

Cloud rolled his eyes amid Boomer's cackles and marched further on.


	4. Taking Responsibility

Leon walked out of the hotel the next morning not sure what to expect. He'd gotten up earlier than usual so he could make sure everything was prepared; his old routine from Hollow Bastion came right to him as if he'd never missed a day. Fifty sit-ups, fifty push-ups, a jog around the district and running through his forms with Lionheart, which all just made him realize how rusty he'd gotten over the last months. No matter, he'd improve with the fighting here. 

Hakim was there waiting for him, just like he'd said. Sitting on his haunches and keeping an eye over the first district, the man looked different and it took Leon a second to realize what it was. Instead of the clothes he was wearing yesterday (clean and almost dressy shirt and pants), now he was wearing jeans and a canvas jacket - clothes you didn't mind getting dirty. It seemed the difference between a civilian and a soldier could be as simple as clothing. The rifle slung over his back even seemed to gleam differently. 

"Good morning, Leon," was Hakim's quiet greeting and Leon nodded in response. "Shall we go?" 

The two men began walking, away from the hotel and towards the second district. They received nods from the people passing by (a good few less around than yesterday afternoon) and the way they looked at them reminded Leon of something. As Hakim led him, Leon tried to find the memory. 

He knew it was back in Hollow Bastion, after he'd passed his SeeD exam and was wearing his uniform for the first time. Following Captain Auron from the training campus to the SeeD headquarters was a trek of a couple kilometers through the town. That day, Leon remembered it being early afternoon when they passed through, which meant the town was full of people going about their business. At the time, it was extremely uncomfortable trying to ignore everyone stopping to watch him go by but after a little while, Leon realized they weren't staring because they thought he looked funny. They were looking... proud. Happy, even. 

And that was almost how they were looking at him now. Nobody knew him, but suddenly it was like he was almost fourteen again, following Captain Auron where everyone could see him dressed up as the newest member of SeeD. There might be no one else in town who knew what SeeD was, but all he needed was his gunblade at his hip and accompanying a well-known citizen and all of a sudden, Leon was a beloved soldier. 

They didn't even know him but he felt just as much trust from them as from the people back home. It was humbling and terrifying at the same time. Did they know he let everyone die on Hollow Bastion? Could they tell he'd failed...? Best put it out of his mind while they seemed to have no firm opinion yet. 

"Where are we going?" wondered Leon as they entered the second district. 

Hakim looked over his shoulder. "The sewers." 

Leon frowned. "Not that I have delusions of grandeur, but why there?"

This time Hakim smiled a little. "It's not as disgusting as it sounds. It's the waterway that extends below the entire town and it's quite large. In my time here, I don't believe anyone's ever encountered the pipes that connect to the actual waterworks." 

"Oh." 

He must have still looked hesitant because Hakim reassured him. "You won't mind when we get there, I'm sure." 

Leon followed Hakim through the center square of the second district and into the alleyways between the houses on the far side. The narrow passages put him in the mind of rats in a maze before they opened up into wide back lanes that could have been streets in themselves. Just when Leon thought they were getting uncomfortably close to the doorway to the third district, he saw a shallow trough filled with water leading to an opening in the side of the town's stone wall. The bars that once prevented entrance were broken and twisted, large enough for humans to get through. 

"Here we are," said Hakim. "Before we go in, just a small... debriefing, if you will." 

Leon stopped walking and gave him full eye contact. As he talked, Hakim unslung the rifle from his shoulder and did last minute checks; making sure it was loaded, looking it over for significant scratches or dents, opening it up to see if the smaller mechanisms were in their correct positions. The activity created an informal mood for Hakim's explanation.

"We'll be starting off slowly, which is why we're here. This place is more or less ignored by the big and especially strong ones, but small ones find their way in all the time. So once you don't need me or Chikere around to hold your hand, you can come here to train, warm up, or even blow off some steam if you feel the need." Leon snorted quietly at the idea he needed someone to hold his hand and crossed his arms; Hakim ignored it and continued to fiddle.

"We won't be here for long today, for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that no matter what shape you're in or how ready you feel, I'd lay down munny this is the first time you've decided to fight Heartless. I don't mean the first time fighting Heartless - " Hakim looked up from his gun for a second to give Leon a quelling glance. " - but going out to fight them when you have the choice not to. It's different; it's simply not a good idea for someone to battle all day when you're not used to it, no matter how well you know how to use that sword." 

Leon didn't bother to explain the difference between a sword and his gunblade. 

"The second reason is that we're in a lull in terms of Heartless activity. Actually, more than a lull," he corrected himself, "it's an all-time low. There aren't that many Heartless to fight. We're not naïve enough to believe they're ever going to go away but, if we're vigilant, we can keep their numbers down. So!" Hakim slapped the hinge on the barrel closed, apparently finished checking his rifle. "You have good timing, or else you're just lucky." 

Leon nodded and unsheathed Lionheart, pulling back the hammer of the gun segment right above the hilt. "Alright." 

Hakim returned the nod and lifted his gun. "Shall we?" He led the way into the so-called sewers, stepping without faltering, letting the barrel of the rifle rest in the crook of his opposite arm. 

It wasn't dark like Leon had expected as he stepped, taking the rear guard as Hakim covered point. At some point, someone had set up torches and lights all around the cavern. The place seemed to battle with itself, soft light filling some areas invitingly and yet other corners marked by jagged rocks and deep shadows.

"That looks welcoming," said Leon sardonically, nodding his head at the especially dark places. 

Hakim shrugged. "It's better than being here without any light at all. But you're right to watch the shadows." 

"Who put up these lights, anyway?" It was odd; most of them weren't torches of fire, but they weren't electric, either... 

He saw Hakim throw him an amused look out of the corner of his eye. "I don't recall you being so talkative in the last couple days. Are you normally so verbose?" Leon snorted and shook his head. Hardly. 

"Ah, then I guess curiosity has won the day. A man named Merlin put them here; he's responsible for a lot of the light around Traverse Town. I'm sure you'll meet him at some point." 

Suddenly, Leon stiffened when bright yellow eyes popped out of a crevice in front of him. Automatically, he lifted his blade to parry the Shadow's claws and swung back at it, but it twisted oddly and managed to dodge. Leon stepped back a pace to give a little room and watched it carefully, not completely taken by surprise when the Shadow seemed to melt into the ground and twisted along the ground until it was beneath him. With a short hiss, he sidestepped it (albeit clumsily) when it popped into three dimensions again. 

An explosion sounded from behind Leon and he whipped around to see Hakim's gun smoking. Angry at himself for being distracted, Leon turned around back to the Heartless to keep going but was startled to see the Shadow dissipating, like a puff of black smoke. 

His mouth twisting, Leon turned around again, looking for more Heartless. He wouldn't be robbed of destroying the next one.

\---

Meanwhile, Yuffie was waking up. With a yawn, she stretched all the way pushing her arms and legs as far as they could go. She smiled - no nightmares - and opened her eyes to darkness. Confused for a second, Yuffie's smile turned to a frown until she remembered that there was no daytime here. Sighing, she sat up and strained her eyes to see around the room. 

Aerith was still in bed, so Yuffie guessed it was still early. She pushed herself out of bed and went over to check the clock on the dresser. Six twenty-five. Aerith shouldn't be awake until seven at the earliest, which was irritating. Having to wait until the other girl got up to do anything! For about a minute, Yuffie stood there debating whether to wake the older girl up but decided against it. After all, she was pretty good at her letters now, she could just write a note saying where she was and then there wouldn't be a problem.

So Yuffie changed into exploring clothes as quietly as she could, and dug around until she found paper and pens left on the bedside table. She painstakingly etched the words. 

_'I am going to go xplore town. I will be very safe so you don't have to wory. I will be back soon. Yuffie'_

Pleased with herself, Yuffie put the note on her bed where Aerith could see it easily and then left the room. Downstairs in the lobby, she got a few curious looks from the people standing around but she stared back at them until they looked away. 

Where to begin... She'd been all around first district with Cid and then Aerith, so it wasn't appealing to go look around a place she already knew. From the severe lectures she'd gotten from everyone about the Heartless lurking there, she knew third district was a no-go. So that left second district. Yuffie's stomach fluttered in guilty excitement as she thought about going in. All that she knew about second was that sometimes Heartless came but enough people lived there that it wasn't that often.

So she sauntered out of the hotel and off to the door to second district, and figured that if she acted like nothing was out of the ordinary, the adults walking around would think so, too. This time, rather than meet the looks she got, Yuffie just ignored them. There were too many adults walking around, so it would slow her down to lock eyes with everyone.

She had a little trouble pulling the wooden door open, but she strained with all her might and slipped through the opening just barely wide enough for her. Then she got her first look. Her first thought was that it was gigantic enough to fit the bailey from Hollow Bastion like, five times and still squeeze her house in there. Humongous! Rather than the village-like first district, the second looked more like home... All stone buildings and they looked like the castle, too! A wave of nauseated homesickness come over her and Yuffie had to lean against the door until it passed.

Not experienced enough with memories to know how to push them away, she couldn't stop seeing images of her mother and father when they took her out to the market (all smiling and only telling jokes and stories about knights slaying dragons) and their servant's son Ryuta, her favourite almost brother ever, teaching her to catch bugs and finding the best hiding spots on the grounds of her house and how to make the best booby traps.

Well, she was wasting time. There weren't as many people around, so that meant she'd have a little more free rein. Taking advantage of her freedom, she just walked around, looking at the shops, the houses, the fountain and the giant cathedral over at the far side. The more she saw, the better she felt. It just felt so familiar! The worry of Heartless was pushed back as the people around her seemed to be going about normally, walking, talking, gathered around doors and doing business. Her smile grew wider. 

What drew her was the cathedral. Easily the biggest building in sight, it seemed to have no end of pillars, nooks, designs and pictures all over it. Yuffie spent a lot of time tracing the lines and wishing she was taller so she could properly see the higher ones. Momentarily satisfied, she moved on to looking though the nooks, hoping for a hole just big enough for her and anything she might want to keep there. (Yuffie wasn't yet old enough to know the word 'hoarding' but she sure knew what it was in practice.)

She had worked her way down the right side of the cathedral down to where it met the stone wall fruitlessly. Miffed but not allowing herself to give up, she began to move on to the stone wall itself. Not really expecting anything but just enjoying the search, Yuffie felt her way down the wall.

Slowly, her hands stopped on a section of stone just above her head and she frowned. It wasn't the specific piece of wall, she didn't think, but she felt rather than heard buzzing all around her. Creeped out, Yuffie took her hands off the wall; the buzzing lessened but didn't stop. Shaking her head (and then her body) didn't get rid of it, so she looked around with a deep frown, looking for what was going on. The other people, increased in number as time went on, didn't seem to even notice she was there. Nothing else stirred.

Yuffie decided now was as good a time as any to go back to the hotel, as Aerith would probably be awake by now. Shooting an glare at the wall where she had stopped, she turned around and ran back to the first district. Stupid wall.

Perhaps if she'd been a bit more observant, she'd have noticed the nearby light stand was a little bit more green than the others or the yellow eyes that followed her from the alleyway not ten feet from the wall where she'd been.

\---

Cid sat by himself in the hotel room, lights off. The lights had been off all day. And when he said all day, he meant from morning to the early evening it was now.

He'd gone out only once, downstairs to the lobby where he'd asked after something to drink. When the lady behind the desk shook her head, Cid resisted growling at her. "Cigarettes?"

Again, she shook her head, unperturbed by his bad temper. "Maybe you could try the shop down at the corner." She pointed in the direction of the door.

So he did. He wasn't sure where she had meant, but there was a small shop on the corner like she said. "Warner's." Well, hell if that explained anything. He walked in and once inside, still wasn't sure what this place was about. The shelves seemed to have random junk all over them, no rhyme or reason to the choice of items. Cleaning supplies on one shelf and small snacks on the next and then lamps and lightbulbs on the one after that. Downright silly is what it was.

Along the side was the shopkeeper behind a desk, reading a book.

"Got any cigarettes?" Cid asked, slapping his hands on the edge of the desk.

The man looked up, startled. "Uh, sorry?"

"Cigarettes, do you got 'em?" repeated Cid.

The shopkeeper looked at him, lingering a second more than Cid liked. "Yeah, I have some." He started to dig around in a niche Cid couldn't see from where he was standing. "That's thirty-five munny per pack." Coming up with a pack, he looked at Cid expectantly.

Then Cid had a minor crisis when he realized that he had no local currency. In his pockets he had some spare gil, so he took that out, hoping it would work.

The shopkeeper took a look at the coins in his hand and frowned. He seemed on the verge of outright refusing but he took another look at Cid and seemed to consider it again. "Don't think I've seen your face before," the man (Warner?) said carefully. "You one of the newcomers?"

"Yeah," said Cid. "News travels fast, eh?"

"You have no idea," said the shopkeeper. "What're these called?" He pointed at the coins.

"Gil," said Cid. "That's about forty."

The shopkeeper took the gil out of his hands, pushing it around a bit. "Looks like they've got some good metal in them." He pocketed them and handed over the pack. "I'll give you this for now but in the future, see if you can't get some munny. I can't be this generous all the time."

So Cid took the cigarettes with a nod and walked out, heading back to the hotel. Which is where he stayed for most of the day. He didn't know if he was allowed to smoke there but there wasn't a no-smoking sign anywhere; Cid wasn't sure it would have stopped him even if there was one. 

His last pack having run out about a month ago, Cid enjoyed lighting up that first cigarette more than anyone would say was healthy. He sat there until that was done, savoring every drag. When he lit up the second, he put the pack away in his jacket pocket and started looking around his room. The only light was coming from under the doorway in the hall and the lamplight streaming in from the window. It was a pathetic little room on the most depressing world imaginable. 

Cid blew out the smoke from a deeper than usual draw. All the worlds still untouched by Heartless and they had to land on the one that never had daylight. How did anyone survive here? Never mind where the food, water and houses came from - the lack of sunshine was a destroyer. In his early days of piloting, when he was still in the military, Cid had visited one of the bases on Hollow Bastion and had been invited to watch an interrogation of some prisoner captured from one of the neighboring provinces. Being stupid and ignorant as anything, he'd accepted. 

What an idiot. Cid was past the point of being embarrassed, but damn did he wish he could go back and shake up his old self. 

Until that point, they'd left the captured man relatively untouched. Before anything got started, Cid saw a sickly looking man chained to a wall. Thin, gaunt, pale. "Shit, what'd they do to him?" he'd muttered, lighting a cigarette he'd tucked behind his ear. 

A nearby soldier guarding the room heard his comment. "Nothing," he'd said. "Just kept him down below. No sun down there. Skipped a few meals, though; he didn't want to eat." Cid glanced at the name tag sewn on the uniform: Kiefer. Why did he remember that? He couldn't even remember the kid's face. 

He looked at the prisoner again. He'd only been down there for a few days? Why the hell did he look so terrible? Nothing had even happened but he was already beaten. Cid didn't know how he knew the man would talk, but he was right. The actual interrogation was one of the more terrible memories; ranked higher than the first time Shera had caught him drunk the first time since they'd slipped those rings on their fingers and below the image burned into his brain of her face being swallowed by darknesses with soulless yellow eyes. 

The soldier in charge of interrogating had started off easy, just asking questions and roughing the man up. After about fifteen minutes of that, he seemed to become bored with that and started to get creati - Cid hastily focused on the dying embers on the end of his cigarette, trying to just imagine the tiny fire igniting all the chemicals he was breathing. No, fire was a bad one, don't go there. Shit. Quick, what had happened today? 

Well, first, he was woken up at some uncivilized hour by Aerith shrieking her head off in the room next door. His first thought was _the Heartless are here and they've finally come to finish us off_ but after a few adrenaline-filled seconds of feeling like a headless chicken, he realized Aerith wasn't yelling from fear but because she was angry. _No_ , he amended, _she's furious_. The idea made him uneasy; she was the nice little porcelain doll made of sugar and spice. She wasn't supposed to melt. 

He listened at the door long enough to learn Yuffie had done something ungodly stupid, case in point: sneaking off by herself in a city where Heartless were known to make a living. Well, 'living', bad word choice. Shaking his head (had he been like that once?), Cid lumbered back to bed and couldn't remember what happened next. 

Something he'd always considered a blessing was that he was almost never able to recall his nightmares. He knew he had them. Every morning, he'd wake up with a taste of fear and bitterness, something trying to dig its way into his brain but always slipping away after a second. Maybe that's why the kids seemed to dealing better. At least they were facing whatever their worst memories were, while Cid took every opportunity to crawl into a hole and hide. Preferably with the help of whiskey. 

Of course, the kids weren't exactly perfect, either. Better than ol' Saint Highwind, that went without saying, but sometimes Cid wished destiny or fate or whoever had their hand in this had let him come across kids who had their heads screwed on better. 

Aerith was probably the best of them; could see where the line was, but didn't have a lot of patience for those like him whose vision had gotten a little blurrier with the years. (He was only twenty-seven, why did he feel fifty? It wasn't fair.) Like that morning. Yuffie sure had deserved a yelling at, but cripes, that girl had a set of lungs. Cid didn't exactly have room nor right to complain about reprimands, but couldn't she take her morality somewhere else? It was wasted on the dregs of humanity that existed in this fucking darkness. 

And Yuffie? Ixnay on the urvivalsay instinctway. Probably wouldn't recognize the danger in a chainsaw-waving maniac if one was standing right in front of her. He never really saw a problem before, but a seven-year-old going into town alone and unarmed? Really?

As for Leon... Well, Cid didn't even know where to start with that headcase. He wondered if there were any shrinks in this town. The fun wouldn't stop if they ever got their hands on his issues. Even if he was an idiot, Cid was also observant. Even when he'd been completely wasted, he could tell when Leon was about to lose it. The way a dog can tell that their master is about to freak and hit them. Cid felt sudden empathy for dogs; him and canines everywhere could tell who the time bombs were. Now if only they knew how to defuse them. Red wire or black wire? Which one?

He cut himself off in the middle of the mental image of a goggle-wearing dog hovering over Leon with wire cutters. When he started waxing this poetic, Cid knew it was time to get well and truly drunk. Well, he thought, round two with Traverse Town. He got off the bed, ground the remains of his second cigarette into the floor and opened the door. After all, wasn't it supposed to be a new world of possibilities out there? As if.  
\---

When Leon walked through the lobby doors, Aerith could have cried in relief. She ran over to him from where she'd been wearing a hole in the floor, too pleased to see him to take stock of how he looked. "Leon!" 

He looked up from the floor at her call, his face a careful blank. 

When she was close enough to speak to him privately and not tip off the few people in the lobby what was going on, she wasn't able to stop herself from babbling an explanation. "Leon, it's terrible, and I didn't know what to do, and I put Yuffie to bed already, I still can't believe she went out and Cid - "

Leon just held up a hand and it was effective as putting a hand over her mouth. "We'll talk in my room." 

Aerith nodded quickly and they went up the stairs. Once they closed the door behind him, Leon turned to her and said with a clipped voice, "Start from the beginning." 

Wringing her hands, she told the story. "I woke up this morning around seven and Yuffie was gone. At first, I checked your room but she wasn't there. Not with Cid, either. Then I found a note on her bed saying she'd gone out exploring." She checked Leon's face for a reaction, but nothing. "I didn't even know where to start looking. I must have gone everywhere in the district but even the people saying they vaguely remembered seeing a girl her age didn't know where she was. I was just about to find Chikere and ask for help when I caught Yuffie coming back in from the second district." 

Now Leon's eyebrows raised slightly but he said nothing. 

"I took her back here and asked her where she went. She spent at least an hour and a half in the second district, completely by herself. What if there was - " Aerith cut herself off before she lost control of her words again.

"Okay," said Leon. "Then what happened?"

Aerith stared at him. "What do you mean, then what happened? Isn't it a big enough deal what she did?"

Leon lifted a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, almost exaggerated in the slowness of his movement. "Obviously you took care of that and she's in bed now. You mentioned Cid downstairs."

At the mention of his name, Aerith decided to bring up Yuffie later because something indefinable reared its head, something between rage and dread. "I'll just show you." She started heading towards Cid's room, through the hallway so as not to disturb Yuffie's sleep. She just checked once to make sure Leon was following outside of Cid's room and then opened the door.

The lights were still off, not that she had expected that to change since leaving Cid here. As soon as she swung the door inward, the stench of cigarette smoke and cheap beer met them immediately, forcing Aerith to choke down a gag. When she didn't hear anything behind her, she turned to look meaningfully at Leon who was standing motionless in the hallway. When they made eye contact, Leon stepped through the door with an air of aggravated stateliness, at which Aerith swallowed a heated assertion that this wasn't worth her time, either.

She went in and flicked on the light, closing the door behind her; Cid immediately cussed at the blinding effect of the light and flung a hand up over his eyes. "...on yer mother's black soul...!" Heart sinking, Aerith saw in Cid's loose grasp a bottle of whiskey she had missed in her evening scourge of the room, which was now more than half finished. The man was squeezing his eyes shut with tears on his cheeks as he railed furiously at them and sloshing alcohol wherever he waved the bottle while he threatened them with things like gouging out their eyes with their own thumbs.

"Cid!" She walked over and wrenched the bottle out of his hands. The man was almost heaving but she recoiled when she saw vomit on the foot of the bed, a congealed mess on the sheets, and she suddenly understood the rancid air she was breathing. She nearly looked back at Cid to see if she could see signs on him on being sick before she decided she didn't have the courage, not tonight. She ignored his slurring, growled threats - he'd never really stopped mumbling and swearing from when they'd come in - easily batting away his attempts to get the bottle back. She marched out of his arm's reach and when the man glared at her through narrowed eyes, she merely met his eyes without responding. She battled the angry tears that flooded her eyes at the sight of Cid slumped on the bed, mostly successful. 

After a minute of Leon standing there silently, Aerith tried to keep her patience. "Well?" she asked, forcing herself to ignore Cid's noise-making in the background.

"What do you want me to do?" asked Leon, icy. "It's a bit late now."

Aerith drew in breath, aware it sounded like a hiss. "Then you could at least tell me you'll deal with it tomorrow instead of just standing there!"

She couldn't believe how fast Leon whipped away from her. Offended and about to tell him so, her words caught when instead of leaving, he brusquely shoved Cid under the covers, removed a pack half full of cigarettes from somewhere and came back. "Let's go to my room." 

That smarted. She was supposed to be the caregiver - the responsible and tactful one. With even more sourness curdling in her gut, she followed him to the privacy of his room. Once there, Leon began to get ready for bed. Lionheart went beside the bed, the jacket went over the back of the chair, and his boots went beside the door. Then they finally faced each other. 

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Leon gestured with a hand. "What do you want?" The snap in his voice made his impatience obvious.

Peeved at the rudeness of his query, Aerith exhaled roughly and shrugged. "Leon, I just - I can't do this by myself. I want you to do something about what Yuffie and Cid did."

"What do you want me to do?" He was quiet, almost inaudible. Despite that, he never broke eye contact with Aerith, which irritated her for a reason she herself couldn't fathom.

"I want you to make a decision!" she snapped. "If you think it's pointless to do something tonight, then at least say that! If you think I did something wrong, say that! But say something!" 

"What if I don't think anything?" His voice even colder, Aerith could tell when Leon was mentally retreating. Well, not if she had a say. 

"Then we're screwed," she said, as blunt as she knew how to be and hoping that would enough to get a rise out of him. Anything was better than him closing off from the world. "I can barely handle Yuffie as it is and I can't do anything about Cid at all." Taken by sudden passion, her voice raised and she stepped closer to him. "I need you to step in and help for once, damn it, Leon! You're leaving me alone out here!" 

By his steadily darkening face, Aerith knew she had stopped the retreat. Anger was better than apathy. "You've been forcing me to handle everything that's wrong with us because you just haven't been here!" She realized she was breathing hard and in that instant, that she knew that now she had started, she couldn't stop herself. "I've been shouldering Yuffie's tantrums, her acting out, completely raising her by myself and I haven't even gotten to Cid getting plastered every time we're within a mile of alcohol! Whereas you just go somewhere else so you don't have to deal with the fact we're all you have left!"

Her hands were trembling out of control. Why were they shaking so hard? She clasped them together to still them and it worked, marginally. She lowered her voice, aware of how loud she had been getting. "You're supposed to be the one leading us but so far you've done an excellent job of abandoning responsibilities." She forced her yell to be quieter, and it came through gritted teeth. 

"What was that?" Leon spoke as if dreaming, distant and cold; he'd seemed to reach the end of his anger. But rather than openly showing it, he'd gone very still.

"I have to pick up the things you just drop," said Aerith, "and it's more than I can do by myself. I need you to do your job." 

Leon seemed to be hard of hearing, leaning in as if he was having trouble making out the words. Aerith knew that was nonsense, as she could tell she was speaking very clearly. 

"What if I don't want to be the leader?"

Aerith glowered and made eye contact, furious he was saying this now of all times when they should be beginning anew and not getting worse. "Then maybe I should have grabbed someone else on Hollow Bastion, they wouldn't be as much of a waste of - "

She heard a loud crack split the air and Aerith felt knives plunge into her face. Gasping to breathe but somehow unable to exhale, she started heaving airless sobs uncontrollably from the panic and the stabbing pain. Need to calm down. Need to calm down. But I can't breathe! If you want to breathe, calm down. Over the next excruciating moments, Aerith forced herself to breathe out and shuddered gasps until she was sure she wasn't going to suffocate herself.

Reaching up, she felt her face and found it damp with tears - that's why she could hardly see - but no wounds. With a jolt, she realized she was on the ground and hadn't just imagined it... She forced herself to look up and saw Leon with his hand still outstretched. What was that look on his face...? 

"...Aerith..." 

Did she imagine that? 

"Get out," she rasped, hardly able to speak. It felt like only a second and she was alone. She put her head back down on the floor, just trying to regain enough strength to get up. After a few minutes, she decided she had gathered enough grit to walk unsteadily to the wall, switch the light off and crawl into the bed. She buried her head in her arms and cried herself to sleep.


	5. Filthy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally beta'd by con-affetto-kiko.tumblr.com

Leon's eyes snapped open. Panting for breath and drenched in sweat, this was far from the first time he'd bolted awake tonight. Quickly, he looked over at Yuffie's bed and saw her still sound asleep. Good, he hadn't woken her up. At this rate, though, he was just tempting fate; next time might have him bolting out of bed screaming and then Yuffie would wake up. Gaia knew the first thing she would think was that he was a Heartless and start weeping in terror. Leon couldn't handle her looking at him like that even for that moment before she realized she knew him.

Where did you draw the line, anyway? What was the difference between heartless and Heartless? 

He grimaced as his hand slid across his forehead, slick with his sweat, feeling the feverish heat of his skin only just begin to cool. He rubbed it off on his shirt and sat there quietly for a few minutes. 

Blankness.

He didn't know how long he sat there _(the sweat slowly drying, sticking clothes to skin in unpleasant ways, grimy outside and inside)_ but when he came back to himself, the lamps outside were still dimmed, imitating night. Dully, he checked the clock on the table beside Aerith's bed. It was close to four in the morning. The darkest part of the night.

Shaking with the adrenaline born of panic and shame, Leon made up his mind on-the-spot and carefully levered himself out of bed. He stepped as softly as he could to the door connecting to his room. Reaching for the doorknob, Leon found himself frozen when he touched it. No. He couldn't go in there. The thought of Aerith waking up and seeing him as he dug through the room looking for his things... It made his insides cold in a way that made him want to hit something. 

What could he do? Without boots, his jacket or his gunblade, Leon left the room to the hallway and entered the first district in black pants, T-shirt and socks. He tried not to think about how miserable he must look. A spectacular failure of a boy stumbling around town without even proper clothes to wear. 

Leon shivered as a cool breeze swept by.

This wasn't him. He wasn't supposed to be that guy. He was a soldier, a commander of men, a professional mercenary. He was SeeD. Not this kind of deadbeat who knocked one of his only friends to the ground. Damn it. 

The streets were empty. Leon wandered aimlessly through the district. He trailed his hands against the walls of the buildings and became absorbed in watching the lamps flicker funny colours as he passed. 

He was only distantly aware of the adrenaline pumping through his body, attentive only enough to know he needed to do something. What did a man with energy in spades do at four in the morning? 

The answer came slowly, as if fighting to pass a barricade in his mind. Heartless. 

Leon turned around and began walking to the second district. He didn't have Lionheart - hell, he didn't even have shoes - but there was no chance he was going into his room right now. He was going to be shadow-boxing; a fistfight with darkness. 

Now with purpose, it seemed to take no time until he was at the waterway, passing through the bent bars. The lamps in here seemed to be even brighter now that it was night, which Leon saw made the shadows in the crevices even darker. _Theoretically_ , thought Leon, _that means more Heartless_. Perfect. 

A pair of eyes stared at him from the ground a few feet away. Leon quickly set himself in one of the few martial arts forms he knew and prepared to fight. Suddenly more than a dark shape, a Shadow was in front of him. It bobbed its head and waved its antenna at him, seeming inquisitive of who he was. Leon's mouth dried as he studied it back. No fucking mercy. 

His sloppy kick hit the air when the Shadow shrunk back into the ground and Leon hastily backed up until he could tell it apart from the regular shadows. Its shape slithered along the ground towards him and popped up in front of him, still watching him, curious as a kitten. He struck out as hard as he could, landing a punch in its midsection that sent the Heartless flying several feet backwards. It stayed there for a minute, its body shifting with the air of collecting itself. Faster than Leon could see, it was under him again and black hooks were digging into his thigh. 

" _Augh!_ " Leon hoarsely yelled and struck it hard enough to send it into the cave wall next to him, where it disappeared in an explosion of black smoke. As if waiting for this, small dark shapes - five, ten, twenty? - surged up from the ground and now dozens of golden eyes were all focused on him. Ignoring the pain in his leg _(stinging, bleeding, aching)_ , Leon reset his stance and dove into the horde. 

At first, it was satisfying in a horrific - **glorious** \- way to watch them explode all around him, when he landed clumsy punches and kicks in the right places. But it wasn't enough. He stomped on them and roared. He slapped them and bellowed. When the Shadows sunk their barbed talons into him, he tore them out and ripped them in half as violently as he knew how to be. He didn't care how close they got to his chest (his heart), as long as they were close enough he could reach them. Was that blood on his face? Or did it have something to with how his eyes were burning? 

Another black explosion with his fist through it and startled, Leon realized the Shadows were gone. 

"GOD!" Leon yelled as loudly as he could. He scanned the cave once, twice, thrice to make sure the Heartless were gone. " _No!_ " he raged. "This is NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" He ran to the nearest crevice of darkness and reached in as if he could pull more Shadows out to kill. " _Get out here_! I'm not _finished_ with you yet!"

At first without realizing it, he began punching the shadowed wall, wishing more than anything that Heartless would come out. Leon screamed his mantra _(I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU)_ until he couldn't hear himself anymore. He hit the wall in time with his words, harder and harder and harder, wanting the shadows to be Shadows. His voice was a hoarse whisper but he still repeated it like he was screaming over and over and over and over and over and over -

The sound of a gunshot exploded behind him and Leon whipped around so fast, he lost his balance and fell to the ground with his back to the wall. He saw the last wisps of a Heartless dissipate in front of Hakim's smoking gun and unsmiling face. 

Neither of them moved, for the time stopped in a tableau. Leon's heart was pounding, pressure throbbing behind his eyes, and he wondered how much Hakim had seen. Instead of his sixteen years, Leon felt very small and clumsy and ashamed. He was five years old, caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He'd never wanted to crawl into a hole and hide as badly as he did now. He fixed his eyes on the rock beside him, not even seeing the other man in his peripheral vision.

It felt like years had passed when Hakim finally moved. Leon didn't see it but he heard his footsteps, the sound of crunching gravel getting louder. Eventually, Hakim's shadow covered him. It took a second but Leon dared to look up. He couldn't tell what emotion was on Hakim's face, but it magnified his feeling of shame when Hakim squatted down to meet him at eye level. 

Someone else speaking was like banging a gong in his ear. "I think you're done for today." 

Leon nodded fuzzily and stood up to leave, hardly aware of Hakim offering him a hand and following him from behind. His legs were so weak and sore, they were shaking with the effort of walking. 

He splashed through the water at the entrance of the waterway, making the open cuts he didn't realize he had burn and he gasped. Scratches, gouges and wounds all over his chest, back, arms, legs - and _god_ , look at his _hands_ \- the sudden influx of pain was an anvil to the head and he almost blacked out then and there. A grip of steel wrapped around his elbow and Leon realized Hakim had been behind him. He vaguely recognized Chikere coming up to him, who led him away to a house nearby where he was guided to a mattress in the corner. Then he was abruptly alone. 

Leon sat there in hurt, disgrace and impotent fury. Where Heartless claws had even grazed him, his flesh was stinging violently from contact with the cool air. His hands _(god, his hands)_ were so bloody and mangled from hitting the rough rock wall, it was hard to breathe properly because of how much they hurt. 

"Why did I get this shitty life?" he snarled to the empty air. 

\---

When Yuffie stumbled into Leon's room at a semi-decent time in the morning, she was already panicked. Upon hearing the commotion of a small person open the door and starting to yell for Leon, Aerith startled awake and burst out from the covers. "What's wrong?"

Yuffie, just a few feet away from the bed, stopped in her tracks and put a puzzled frown on her face. "Aerith?" 

"Uh, yes," said Aerith, and she sat up, pulling the covers off. The air outside the blankets was already colder than the nest she'd been sleeping in; she resisted a shiver. "What's wrong, Yuffie?" Soreness pulled at the corner of her mouth and Aerith absently reached up to find her cheek swollen. _Don't think about it..._

Yuffie glanced back into the other room and back at Aerith somewhat sheepishly. "Your bed was empty, so I thought you were missing, so I came in here to get Leon so we could go find you but you're here."

"...I see." Aerith felt a small smile tug at her lips, still grazing her face with her fingertips.

Yuffie tilted her head at her now. "Did something happen, Aerith? Your cheek is purple and is bigger than the other one."

Aerith forced a bigger smile now and put her hand down in her lap. "It was just an accident, Yuffie, it'll be normal again in a few days." 

Yuffie's eyes grew bigger and she bounced up closer, trying to get a better look. "What happened?" She tentatively reached up to try and touch it, which Aerith allowed with a warning look. 

"I fell down the stairs and I hit the wall. It'll be fine." After a couple seconds of Yuffie carefully prodding the bruise, Aerith raised a hand to push her back. "So, how did you sleep?" 

"Good," said Yuffie, shrugging with an assumed maturity that looked out of place on her. "I woke up a couple times, but it was good." 

"That's good," said Aerith. Pushing herself up from the bed, she idly put plans together for the rest of the day. First she would shower, get changed, make breakfast for the two of them...

"Aerith?" asked Yuffie. "Where's Leon?" 

Taken aback, Aerith looked around the room. Lionheart, his jacket, his boots... All where he had put them last night. If he wasn't in the other room, where was he? "I'm not sure, honey. I'm sure he's fine, but we can ask around." 

"Okay," Yuffie chirped, and began tugging Aerith onto her feet. "I'm hungry! Can you make pancakes for breakfast?" 

Aerith couldn't help but giggle behind her hand. "Alright, I'll see what we can do. Just let me get ready quick and we'll try it." 

After Aerith showered and changed as quickly as possible (it was obviously unspeakable foolishness to leave Yuffie by herself for too long), they went downstairs to the common area to see if ingredients couldn't be scrounged up. With a little advice from friendly passer-bys, Aerith found some pre-packaged pancake mix and then took full advantage of the weathered griddle that was sitting on the counter. 

"What are we doing today?" asked Yuffie, talking through the last bite off her pancakes. 

Aerith finished chewing before answering her. "I thought we'd go into town again. I want to look for a job." 

Yuffie contemplated this for a moment before scrunching her nose with a lazy sort of disgust. "Sounds boring." At which Aerith just rolled her eyes and said her opinion didn't matter before coaxing her into helping wash the dishes they dirtied.

They stepped into the first district, Yuffie's hand firmly clasped in Aerith's.

Before Aerith even realized it, weeks passed in an unorthodox rhythm, like a drummer who couldn't quite keep a beat but you knew it was there somewhere. It took surprisingly little time to adjust to the flow of life in Traverse Town. Once Aerith realized that there was a significant support base, other people who'd been through the same tragedy and were willing to help the transition, she found herself relaxing. Where before she constantly needed to check over her shoulder, panicked over the dark shadow in the corner of her eye, now she actually let life happen. When you're so focused on getting to the finish line in one piece, you're not paying attention to the scenery. Once, Aerith caught herself in a daydream about herself and Patrick, the boy who waited tables at the café - when did she have time for things like that? Aerith laughed and stowed the thoughts away, realizing that life was becoming normal again.

That first day when she decided to find work, Aerith decided she at least knew how to clean and found Edlène the maid again. The older woman (she couldn't have been a day over fifty, thought Aerith) was more than happy to cut Aerith into her dealings with the town and graciously explained her route. 

It became apparent that Edlène was something of a chatterer. "Please, call me Eddy, everyone always does. I don't know what my mother, bless her soul, was thinking, Edlène is such an old woman's name. I'm not an old biddie yet - why, I felt I could have run a marathon when I got up this morning!" She paused for breath to nod a greeting as the three walked past an elderly duck with a cane and a tophat going about his business. "That was Mr. Scrooge, dear; whose house we're going to go clean tomorrow, remember? He can be such a grump, but I think under that he's really such a kind soul. Just the other day when there were some children playing and one of the boys fell and scraped his knee - " Aerith liked her because Eddy didn't seem to care if you were listening, and she meant well, anyway.

The first time Aerith had seen non-humans (such as Mr. Scrooge) walking about the town same as any man or woman, she couldn't help a gasp. They tolerated her awkward attempts at conversation with nothing more than amusement. After a while, it was just as normal to see an animal walking down the street wearing clothes and speaking perfect Common like anyone else. Yuffie had no problems from the beginning. The opposite, in fact; the first time she'd seen a human-sized amphibian checking his pocketwatch by a lamp, Yuffie ran over and immediately asked if he ate bugs. Mr. Toad and Yuffie were friends right off the hop.

Though Aerith had basically run the _Shera_ in terms of cleaning, she had no formal experience and there was a lot more to know when it come to people's homes. Eddy accompanied her for the first few houses to show her how it went. After a few weeks, Aerith was holding her own among the other maid services in Traverse Town.

People seemed not to care if she came by to clean while they were home, so she got used to working with strangers in the same room. For the most part, she was politely ignored, but a couple clients warmed up and seemed to want conversation. So Aerith made friends. The work was hard at first, but taking home munny at the end of the day made it worth it.

Chikere checked in on Aerith a few more times and eventually stopped. 

"You're doing well, Aerith," she said, a pleased smile plastered on her dark face. "You obviously don't need me to hold your hand." Aerith had felt proud: self-dependent and raising a child at almost fifteen years. She ignored the voice at the back of her mind that murmured, _but you shouldn't have to_. She was doing it anyway and succeeding.

Aerith and Chikere were starting to get together now and then, making it a routine; the soldier spent most of her time patrolling the second and third districts, but made a point always to keep the door to her home open to Aerith.

Yuffie spent a lot of time huffing with boredom in the background, but quelling looks Aerith sent over her shoulder closed her mouth. Though her mulish expression never faded, she behaved well enough for Aerith to do her work. After a couple weeks, Aerith started letting her play around the first district (with dire threats if she strayed too far), and taught her how to read the time so she would know when to meet Aerith again. Yuffie seemed to understand that look in Aerith's eyes and never missed the meeting time. Maybe because of the lack of mishaps, but Aerith was starting to feel safe here despite the fact that she didn't want to. For her and Yuffie, Traverse Town was home. At least, as much home as was possible.

Leon was another story. The days after _it_ happened, Aerith dreaded seeing Leon again. But she never did. He was around, that wasn't the question. He would be gone from his room before she woke up, and she would see the lights in his room come on under the door after she'd gone to bed, or hear footsteps on the creaky floorboards; little things like that. 

A week after it and hearing nothing from him, Aerith slipped into his room during the day. He was gone, like he always was now. Clothes soiled with dirt and blood lay strewn all over the floor and other random possessions were scattered. Muffling a sigh, Aerith organized his things, made his bed and gathered his clothes for the laundry pile. Later, she put clean, folded clothes into his drawers. The next morning, Aerith found a sizeable bag of munny by their connecting door, with a note in Leon's scribble, ' _for whatever_ '. Aerith's eyebrows raised into her hairline as she counted the amount. Combined with the munny she made from cleaning, it was enough to cover all the bills that month, with a little bit left for groceries. They were almost self-supporting - Aerith immediately began doing mental sums to figure out how much more she'd have to work before they stopped getting welfare. 

Aerith kept taking care of Leon's room and she kept finding bags of munny by the door. It was working... for now. In the back of her mind, she knew it couldn't last for much longer, and Yuffie constantly asked to see him... 

Cid was another animal altogether. And animal was the only word she could find to describe him. Every morning she went in and forced Cid out of bed. He grumped at her but was generally civil and Aerith went to go make breakfast. He hardly ever showed up to eat, and resisted all of her efforts to get him out of that toxic room and do something.

Some days she'd walk in and the room would stink of cheap beer. (The stench of cigarettes was so omnipresent that Aerith's brain didn't even register it anymore.) She had no idea where he got the alcohol (or the munny to pay for it), but while he didn't seem to get enough to be completely wasted, he'd be more than tipsy. Thankfully, he hadn't vomited since that night - cleaning it up was probably the most vile thing Aerith had ever experienced. He almost never left his bed and the lights remained off most of the time, but for all the time he spent there, he didn't seem to be getting rest if the bags under his eyes were any clue.

As much as she hated herself for it, she avoided Cid beyond making sure he hadn't killed himself either by intention or neglect. The longest she ever spent in his room was scouring for anything sharp or that could substituted for rope while he was in the bathroom.

It was easy enough to push it all out her mind when she went to work, so that's what she did. If it was a shorter day at work, she'd go find Eddy and they'd have coffee and have unimportant conversation that mattered so much. Yuffie spent almost all morning and afternoon unattended, but Aerith had stopped worrying when she saw Mr. Toad bandaging a scrape of hers by the main steps, crowded by three or four other girls and boys her age. 

So their lives went. 

\---

One day when it was business as usual, a mere three months after Aerith had begun work, Aerith and Yuffie were just cleaning up from breakfast in the hotel kitchen when a man, one of the shopkeepers from the second district, burst in the dining room. "Newcomers!"

Aerith startled as the few people sitting at the tables bolted out the door, following him as he went. Abandoning the dishes, Aerith and Yuffie ran after them into the second district. A crowd had amassed, though Chikere and the mayors, Renaud and Camille, were pushing people away from the center with marginal success. When Chikere saw Aerith, her eyes lit up with relief. 

"Aerith, thank goodness! Come here!" Aerith held Yuffie's hand as they squeezed through the whispering crowd and, behind the barrier of Renaud's arms, saw two people on the ground, looking very scorched, very worn and very unconscious.

"Can you see to them while we chase these guys off?" called Chikere. Aerith nodded and knelt down by the first one. He was a boy, no older than Leon, in a long dark coat and brown hair tied back in a ponytail. The loose hair at the front fell into his eyes and Aerith suspected that he probably liked it that way. She held a hand to his forehead. It would only be a little while until he came to. 

She crawled over to the second and it was a woman with very feline features, dressed in a dark blue military uniform. Aerith held a hand to her forehead and decided she would take quite some time yet to wake up. So she went back to the boy and waited. 

Soon, Chikere came over to her, the crowd successfully dissipated, and the mayors went to check on the woman. 

"Anything?" asked Chikere. 

Aerith shook her head. "No, but he'll wake up soon. Is there a place we can take them?" 

Chikere nodded. "More rooms in the hotel." She grabbed the boy's shoulders and gestured for Aerith to take his feet; Renaud and Camille did the same with the woman. "Let's go." 

People drew together and stared as their procession, but Aerith couldn't be bothered. Between making sure Yuffie was still beside her and that she didn't drop the boy, she didn't have a lot of attention left for anybody else. 

At the hotel, they went up the stairs to the floor above Aerith's and the two were carefully laid on the beds. Within minutes of quiet waiting, the boy's eyes started fluttering. When finally they focused, he yelled hoarsely and threw himself off the bed, squeezing himself into the corner simultaneously fending them off. 

Aerith watched Chikere and Renaud gently coax him out, repeating over and over again over his loud protests that he wasn't in danger anymore, that they weren't Heartless, that it was okay now. Eventually he sat, trembling, on the bed holding a mug of hot chocolate Camille had fetched from the kitchen. 

"What's your name?" Chikere was gentle, sitting a safe distance away from him.

For a minute, Aerith thought he wasn't going to answer, but then, so quietly she almost didn't realize he'd spoken, "Jim." 

"I'm Chikere." She dropped her volume so it almost matched his. "Where are you from, Jim?" 

Jim was staring deep into the mug of hot chocolate. "...Montressor."

"Is that the name of your city?" 

"...It's a planet. I'm... I mean... We were on a ship... Not by home... Thank God." 

Chikere seemed to be forcing herself to not look bothered. Aerith couldn't keep her expression from breaking and she squeezed her eyes closed. Yuffie gently tugged her dress and Aerith knelt by the floor to hold her. 

"Dr. Doppler was on the ship," Jim continued, voice getting marginally stronger. "He was trying to hold them back. He locked us in the cabin and started fighting them." His shoulders started shaking even harder. "He's not a fighter. He knew he wouldn't win. Why did he...?" He aggressively swallowed a sob back. "He knew he wasn't a fighter..." 

Everyone averted their eyes when the boy lifted a hand to his eyes and wept. Aerith found herself choking back tears of her own and muffled the sounds by holding Yuffie closer. 

There was a terrible kind of understanding in the room. Everyone knew what it was like. When she looked up, Aerith saw Chikere, Renaud and Camille were having as much trouble as she was with quelling their own grief. 

After a while (minutes? an hour?), the uniformed woman started coming to. Jim was completely taken aback, as if he'd forgotten she was there (he might have), and ran over, putting the hot chocolate on the bedside table. 

"Captain?" he breathed, leaning over her.

Her eyes opened slowly, taking in the sight right away but without comprehension. "Mr. Hawkins...?" Her voice was clipped but elegant, an accent Aerith had never heard before. Understanding made her eyes widen, fully revealing thin slits for pupils. She sucked in breath and sat up, nearly bashing Jim's head with her own. 

Chikere quickly explained where she was and what was going on, and the woman took it without a flinch. A minute of silence passed before Chikere introduced herself to her.

The woman nodded, her ears twitching madly, though she didn't seem to notice. "Captain Amelia, of the _R.L.S. Legacy_. I suppose it's just the lad and myself who appeared, then...?" 

Hesitant nods were her answer, and the captain closed her eyes briefly. "I see," was all she said. Jim went back to his seat on the other bed and he slowly sunk into it, holding his head in his hands. 

Captain Amelia spoke, her voice a touch too loud to be completely in control. "May we ask for some time alone?" 

"Of course." Chikere stood up. "I'll come back tonight to make sure you're situated. Aerith - " She pointed at her for their sake, making sure there was no confusion. " - lives the next floor down, in the middle door. You can see her if you need anything." 

The captain nodded her understanding - Jim didn't respond - and so Aerith and the others left them alone. Outside the door, Aerith asked Chikere to pass a message to Eddy that she couldn't work today and was staying home. She looked at the door to Captain Amelia and Jim; just in case. Chikere nodded and thanked her for her help, and then it was just her and Yuffie standing in the hallway. 

Slowly, they walked down to their room and sat there in silence. 

Yuffie retrieved a book from her dresser and clambered up to sit beside Aerith on her bed. "Read to me?"

\---

After the first day with Boomer trailing just over his shoulder, Cloud wished he could kill him. Three months of wishing muteness on the spirit later, he'd now resigned himself to the idea Boomer just wasn't going away. And he sort of thought he was getting attached, anyway.

It helped that Boomer was almost fully responsible for his continuing survival. After the first few hours of walking with the spirit hovering with him, Cloud's stomach rumbled and he realized he was hungry. Boomer didn't seem to understand what the noise meant, and after Cloud explained it to him, Boomer seemed surprised.

"Hunger means you need food. Hunger is for the living." (Apparently Boomer had assumed that since Cloud had arrived in an underworld of sorts, he must have died.) But Boomer got over it quickly and reached over and reached his hand into Cloud's head. He promptly swore and tried to get the demon out of his space by backing away, but Boomer merely rolled his eyes and kept up with him like they were on a dance floor. The blue fire spirit digging around in his headspace was surprisingly ticklish and Cloud swore he could feel fingers dancing over his mind. Before Cloud could gather himself up for the biggest lecture of his life, Boomer had found what he wanted with a "Good show!" and pulled out... a plate of pancakes topped with syrup and a glass of milk.

From that point on, Cloud had his favorite food whenever he was hungry and tried his best to ignore the sick feeling in his gut whenever he ate. Potentially selling his soul to a lesser demon for eating its food, or starving to death and ending up here anyway without a chance of escape... He couldn't figure out which was the worse option.

The caverns with green waters didn't last long. Soon Cloud was walking through wide stone caverns, lit by torch brackets burning with purple fire. It was eerie. And it just figured that it put Boomer in a good mood.

"Will you cut it out?" he snapped, trying to interrupt Boomer, but the fire-thing kept whistling the same ditty it had been for the last half hour. Though the tune sounded happy enough, the fact that Boomer didn't breathe made it sound disturbing and the buzzing static in his voice never failed to send shivers down Cloud's spine. Like walking through a ghost town and then all of a sudden you hear Patti Page cheerfully singing 'How much is that doggie in the window?' come chirping out of a broken radio that crackled and distorted all the sound.

Cloud sighed and kept walking. 

The violet corridors lasted for a few days. After that, the two of them entered a different sort of area altogether. Another wide-open cavern, lit by fires around the cave and cracks in the surface above illuminated the whole place with shafts of blinding sunlight. Cloud gaped.

"What is this place? I thought I was in..." 

Boomer drifted up a little in front of Cloud, so he could see the area and talk with the blond. "Oh, this is hell, Cumulus Cloud, dear, make no mistake. Did you think it was all coloured lights and caves?"

Cloud shrugged in discomfort, trying not to stare too long at any one spot, feeling like if he lingered too long he'd see something horrible, something he could never un-see. "I don't know... I mean, there's sun, so I just thought we might be at the surface or something. Like, what about the lakes of fire and the sinners in chains and all? Aren't we almost out? I haven't seen anyone else... Since you, I mean."

Boomer giggled lightly, rolling his eyes. "I suppose some might consider being as ignorant and puritanical as you a blessing. We've only just come to the path out of here." Boomer rolled his head backwards - not the way a human might turn his head, but literally separating his head from his neck and twisting it upside-down to look up at him while his body faced the cavern. "Now we'll meet these poor sinners. Maybe we'll even see someone familiar." And he winked. 

Cloud resisted the shiver that wanted to shake his whole body, because he knew exactly who Boomer meant. Stiffly, he followed Boomer, who started softly singing as he floated down the road.

_"Children, have you met the boogie man before?"_


	6. Metamorphosis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Often what acts as the catalyst to the change in a man is mistaken for the cause of the change. On rare occasions, one event is all that's needed to force a man to face himself, to look himself over in the mirror and admit that he isn't the good guy. Then the transformation is free to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you think I overuse italics? I think I overuse italics.
> 
> Originally beta'd by con-affetto-kiko.tumblr.com

  
Duty is something you must do by virtue of your position and is a legal or moral obligation.

Responsibility is being accountable for what you do or fail to do.

A leader does not 'choose' the best or most opportune time in which to lead. A good leader takes the challenge whenever and wherever it presents itself and does the best he or she can.  
\---

About a week since the new arrivals, Yuffie was walking around the first district, looking for Noah, or Kaisa, or Baqi, or _anyone_ to play with. The favoured game was Warriors and Heartless - Yuffie always made sure she was a Warrior since Warriors should always win. But if she couldn't find anyone... Well, Yuffie huffed, it was no fun being a Warrior by yourself. 

But it seemed like she had no choice. There was no one else to be found and Yuffie really really _really_ didn't want to follow Aerith around just 'cause there was nothing better to do. She ran back to the hotel to pick up her ninja stick sword. It was a ninja stick sword because ninjas were cool and she was going to be a ninja someday, so it was good to practice her fighting skills early. 

Inside, she saw the new captain woman sitting at one of the meal tables in the communal dining room. Yuffie changed course from her room to go see what she was doing. In the first few days, Yuffie had tried to go see the new people, but Aerith had always told her to go play somewhere else. When she complained, Aerith only said that she was "too much for people sometimes." Whatever that meant.

But here was her chance! Yuffie's steps slowed as she got closer to the table, sizing up the woman captain and realizing she was kind of intimidated. The captain was just finishing breakfast, Yuffie deduced, judging by the empty plate and full cup of coffee. She stood there not saying anything for a moment, and eventually, the captain looked over at her. "Hello? Can I help you?"

Yuffie's face exploded in a wave of heat. "NothanksI'mokay." She turned to run off and pretend that never happened, but the captain kept talking.

"I've seen you around this hotel. Am I correct in guessing that you are Yuffie? Aerith's little sister?" 

Yuffie turned around again, the effect having been spinning in a full circle. "Um, yeah." She attempted eye contact and was surprised to find the captain wasn't scary, but merely was looking very calmly and steadily at her. "Who're you?" 

Yuffie didn't catch the captain's lips twitch as she answered. "Captain Amelia." 

"So you have a ship?" asked Yuffie eagerly. "Cid said that you can't be a captain unless you have a ship. He said we should call him 'captain' whenever we were on the _Shera_ but nobody did. He was just Cid." 

There was a small pause. "The _R.L.S. Legacy_. She's a good ship." 

Yuffie grinned, and sat in the chair beside the captain. "What does she look like? Is it here in Traverse Town?" 

The captain shook her head and her ears twitched. "Not here. If there was..." She looked around the room, looking for something. "Ah, here we go." She stood up and went over to the side room for a moment and returned with a small stack of paper and pencil in hand. Fascinated, Yuffie followed the captain's quick and steady hand. Within a few short minutes, there was a sketchy but professional drawing of a ship. 

"Like the ones in the story books," said Yuffie with awe, picking it up and staring hard. "It looks like it flies on water." 

The captain chuckled. "No, it sails the Etherium."

"What's that?"

So Yuffie continued to ask questions and the captain continued to answer good-naturedly, and the morning passed into afternoon pleasantly enough. Yuffie told her about sailing on the Shera and finding pictures in the stars, and reading books with Aerith, and about Mr. Toad, and about Warriors and Heartless, and how she was going to be a ninja one day. In return, the captain regaled her with tales of fighting pirates, adventures discovering new planets, Mr. Arrow and his fighting spirit, Dr. Doppler's discoveries, the first time Jim Hawkins came on board, Treasure Planet. 

When the captain was called away by someone, Yuffie left the hotel, disappointed at the loss of her company, but giggling as she remembered all the stories at once. 

Still with her stick, Yuffie pretended to be a sailor fighting pirates and trying to imitate the captain's cool accent. "Aye, take that, you scurvy dog! See me, Yuffie the Ultimate Ninja Warrior and tremble!" She ran, fighting imaginary enemies, until she passed into the second district. Not seeing that it was emptier than usual or that the time has slid into early evening, Yuffie carried on battling until she found herself in an alley she'd thought was a street. 

Yuffie looked at the size and shade of the nearest lamp post and blanched. It was later than she'd thought, Aerith would kill her for sure. She followed the alleyway, going back to the street, but turned the corner into another alley that was just as abandoned as the first. She went the other way, thinking she'd been turned around, but that was a dead-end. 

Confused and starting to panic, Yuffie started running. There had to be a way out, there just had to! The twisting streets didn't care for her logic, and the path in front of her warped and shifted like something alive, giving her the sickening feeling of crawling along inside a snake. 

She ran and ran and ran until, impossibly, she found herself in another dead end. 

"You stupid road!" she yelled, and leaned on her knees to catch her breath. From the corner of her eye, Yuffie saw a shadow move and her stomach dropped. She was going to get her heart eaten out and become a monster, just like Aerith always said. She looked up to see darkness coalesce into a shape she couldn't recognize, but with horridly poisonous yellow eyes. 

"No," she whispered and turned to run again, but the alley behind her had morphed into walls and she was trapped with a Heartless. "No!" 

A gagging voice erupted from the shadow. _I found youuuu, little girlllll..._

The stick clattered to the ground as Yuffie's hands covered her mouth, smothering a scream. _No. This isn't real. This is a dream. This is just another dream._ "This is just a dream!"

_Now youuuu'rrrre mine... Forever..._ Black tentacles reached out, writhing, circling her. 

"Get off!" Yuffie slapped the black away, but that just made it angry. 

_I thought you loved meeeeee..._ The black swirled faster and faster, enclosing her faster than Yuffie could brush it away. _I thought youuuu neeeed meee like I neeeed youuuuuuu..._

A bolt of light blinded Yuffie and knocked her to the ground. A brown blur shot towards the shadow and in a few short moves glowing with more bursts of light, the Heartless was completely dispersed. The light faded. 

The brown blur landed on a post and turned large, yellow eyes on Yuffie. She sucked in a nervous breath as she watched it rustle its feathers before she realized what it was. "An owl?" 

Yuffie stared at it and it stared back. When she blinked, the owl flew over her head and out, revealing that the alley had appeared again. Yuffie followed the owl and within mere moments, it led her back to the second district square. It turned around in midair, giving Yuffie enough time to see it wink at her, then it disappeared over the rooftops. 

Trembling, she turned and ran home. 

Aerith wasn't home yet, but Yuffie went into their room, scribbled a note saying where she was. She opened the connecting door to Squall's room and threw herself into his bed, taking refuge in the blankets. It wasn't real. It was a dream. Not real, a dream, not real, a dream, she was dreaming, this wasn't happening... She curled into a ball, repeating her mantra.

\---

Captain Amelia sighed, a soundless exhalation of air that nobody would have caught, even if it wasn't one in the morning and everyone else was in bed. She sat alone in the lobby, with a freshly made cup of coffee in hand, and staring at the stars through the wide windows in the lobby. Amazing how even though the darkness over this town never shifted, they could reproduce the effects of day and night simply by dimming the lights. There had to be more to it than that, but she'd seen no other measure taken than control over the lights. Again, amazing.

As she watched, a shadow of a figure crept up the road, coming towards the hotel. Amelia's eyes narrowed and she moved to set her coffee down and reach for the rifle Chikere had given her, but the figure casting the shadow stepped into the light. It was recognizably human by the height and build. Something about it put her on edge, however, and her hackles remained raised, though she checked to make sure her face showed only blankness. 

Slowly, the figure made itself to the doors of the hotel, and ever so quietly, the front doors clicked open. (A resident, then, if they had the key.) There was always a steady light coming into the lobby from the hallways, but this figure managed to avoid illumination. Dressed in black, dark hair, and this way of stalking that Amelia couldn't remove from the way a wolf slunk through the shadows on the outskirts of civilization.

At the corner, he (for Amelia had decided his gender from his shape and movement) couldn't avoid the light and Amelia was surprised to see a boy around Jim Hawkins' age, with a great silver beast of a sword on his back. 

"I can't say I've seen you around before." 

The boy jumped, and Amelia realized that she wasn't exactly in the most well-lit spot herself. She also knew as a part of her feline features that as the boy recovered and stared hard in her direction, he couldn't miss the reflective pair of cat's eyes staring back at him out of the dark. To avoid as many miscommunications as possible, she left her rifle and stepped into the light holding her cup of coffee. She was wearing her uniform today and had a humorous thought as to what this must appear like to a total stranger. 

The boy, for his part, had taken his sword down from his back, but let it rest once he saw her. 

"You must be new if startling people in the dark doesn't sound like a dangerous idea." His voice was deeper than she'd expected, but rather than impress her, it only made the initial reaction of seeing a boy when she expected a man all that more discordant.

"I'm sorry I frightened you," she replied stiffly. The boy's eyes narrowed but that was his only reaction.

They both took a minute to size each other up again. Amelia took a long sip from her coffee. Her spine was ramrod straight and she didn't think she could relax around him if she'd wanted to.

"So why are you sneaking in here as if you don't live here? You a squatter?" 

The boy's face darkened at the question, and suddenly Amelia really took in the scar marring his face, stretching from above his eyebrow to the lower cheek on the opposite side. Not only that, but he was covered in bruises and scratches and she noticed bloody patches disguised by the black he wore. From head to toe, she noted, signs of a young, angry brawler; he seemed to have quite the chip on his shoulder. Well. Suffice it to say, but Amelia had some experience with the type.

"No," he growled, clearly watching where her eyes had wandered. "I live here." 

"By yourself?" she inquired. Now that she'd figured him out a little, she could relax. A bit. 

He didn't answer. 

They watched each other for a short while, tense and silent. Amelia finished her coffee. "So what have you been occupying yourself with all day? You must have left before seven this morning." 

Surprise registered in his eyes and Amelia smiled, more tightly than she intended. "I've been up since about then," she said, answering the unspoken question. "Judging from your raccoon eyes, this schedule has been something of a habit?" 

Still no answer from him, however much his furious eyes screamed at her; she wondered if he'd been struck mute in the last ten minutes. Sighing, she moved past him to sit on the wide staircase and gestured for him to sit as well. Slowly, cautiously, he walked forward and sat as far from her as was possible. Like a kicked dog, she thought. His sword lay between them, but it was out of his tight grip. 

"So why is an upstanding young man such as yourself spending his days making himself as bloody as possible?" 

If she hadn't been paying attention, Amelia wouldn't have noticed the slight shaking of his hands. A choking sound was her answer this time - better than nothing. 

"I beg your pardon?" 

He shifted so his face was completely hidden by his hair and shadows. "I don't have to tell you." 

"You don't have to sit here punishing yourself, either, but the fact you're here right now tells me both are things you want." She tried to shift her tone to firm, but understanding. And why was she picking up strays again? 

"I don't know." 

"So you don't know why you go out every day with a bloody great sword and fight until you can't walk straight," Amelia deadpanned.

He raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. "..." 

"What are you so angry about?" Nothing. She had a suspicion and voiced it. "...Who are you angry at?" 

Another silence and this time, Amelia clenched the coffee cup in her hand and was about to stand up and go to bed (this was pointless) when he finally answered. Well, it wasn't so much an answer as it was a noise. The barest whisper of a growl rippled through the air; Amelia felt vindicated that her first impression of this boy being related to the canine family was proving itself true, but she immediately chided herself for jokes at inappropriate times.

She didn't say anything to prod him further, just turned to him more fully to let him know she was still listening. Amelia glanced at his face once - rage and guilt contorted his face until he hardly looked human - and quickly looked away. His breathing became heavier and shorter, and his fists trembled with the force he was using to keep them in his lap. 

He was going to reach some critical mass and explode, so before he could do that, Amelia asked again quietly. "Who...?"

At once, the tension melted out of him like water poured from a cup. "Me," he breathed.

Finally! Amelia settled in. "So what has the great monster of a boy done?" 

She meant it glibly, but he shuddered and seemed to pull tighter into himself. He muttered something, completely incoherent, and Amelia frowned as she leaned in. 

"Again, I beg your pardon?"

He turned and repeated it louder, hardly audible. "I hit her." Even saying it seemed to drain him and he leaned against the wall as if he no longer had the strength to support himself. She looked at him seriously then, trying to see into him. Did she know this girl? Or maybe it was an older woman? A child? Amelia felt her insides chill when she visualized this soldier striking Yuffie. 

"And why did you do that?"

A rattling, hysterical laugh echoed from the shell of the boy who was in front of her. "Because I was angry. At this." He gestured widely, indicating the hotel and the world outside. "At the Heartless. At her, for saying that." His voice dropped in volume again and Amelia had to strain to hear. "At me, for it being true."

He exploded, flying up from the wall and focusing on everything and nothing. "I hate it! I hate that this place is night all the time! I hate that the only people I know are Cid and Yuffie and Aerith! I hate that I'm..." He turned to her, the self-loathing in his eyes so consuming Amelia flinched. "I _hate_ that I'm - " His voice broke. "I _hate_ myself." 

The air seemed impossibly thick with the dark admissions from this boy, who Amelia knew as certainly as her heart was beating was the Leon Aerith mentioned, the mysterious piece of the puzzle now in place. 

She waited a few minutes to speak, respecting the time he needed to pull himself together. "So what do you think you're fixing by going out and killing yourself everyday?" 

Leon whipped to face her again, making eye contact that was thankfully less intense. "What do you know? I can hardly be in the building at the same time as her, let alone stand in front of her and breathe the same air she does. So this works. She never gets up before eight, and always goes to bed before eleven. I kill some Heartless and she never has to see me. _This works_." 

"I can see that."

"Stop making fun of me!" he yelled. 

Amelia raised a finger to her lips. "Careful, there are people sleeping upstairs. I wasn't making fun of you." Sighing, she stood up next to him and put a careful hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps you should be spending more time with your family instead of deciding what they think before asking them."

Leon stared at her before shaking his head. "You know, just... Whatever."

He knelt down, picked up his sword, and went upstairs, skulking just as noiselessly as when he'd first come in.

\----

"Do you actually have to work every day?" 

Aerith lowered her forkful of pancake at the question. "Well... I guess it depends on what day," she answered Jim, who happened to be sharing breakfast with her. 

Jim's bangs hung in his eyes as he smiled mischievously at her. "So, say, if you wanted to go gallivanting off and show a newcomer around...?" 

She couldn't help giggling, but shook her head firmly to be clear. "I can't skip out this short notice... But coincidentally, I only have one apartment to clean today, so I can be done before noon."

"I don't believe in coincidence." Jim said it with such straight-faced seriousness that Aerith could only blink at him. "So you think I could tag along at work, so I don't get lost trying to find you after?"

"Oh, sure, that works." Aerith tried to not to look surprised at the unexpected request, and resolved to expect the unexpected from Jim Hawkins. 

So after they'd cleaned up, Jim followed Aerith faithfully to Scrooge McDuck's apartment at ten o'clock sharp. She rang the doorbell, armed with her bucket, mop, sponge and cleaners. The door swung open to reveal an elderly monocled duck with a suspecting look about him, glaring at them through the single eyepiece.

"Ah, it's you," said Mr. Scrooge, in the tone that one used when they remembered they had an appointment for a root canal. "Forgot it was Thursday. Right on time, though, a gent can certainly appreciate that even when his memory is prone to fail him, eh?" With a rough chuckle, he let them in. "Don't remember this lad, though."

"Ah, Jim Hawkins, sir," Jim introduced himself, the most ruffled Aerith had seen him thusfar. "Just tagging along for the, um, for the day."

"The day? Indeed." Mr. Scrooge chortled again, this time sounding far too pleased with himself. He picked up his cane and tophat from where they were resting by the door and wiggled his feathers jauntily. "Anyway, I had better get out of your hair. It's lucky you were on time, though, miss Aerith, I was about to head out the door, and like I said, had entirely forgotten you were coming. Ta-ta!" And with that, the duck was gone.

Jim stared at the closed door bemusedly, then turned back to Aerith with an exaggerated frown. "Now see, you could've played hooky and we could have been painting the town red by now!" 

His comical mask of sternness had Aerith in stitches, but she recovered when Jim relented and let it fade. "That show?" she said, putting the bucket down. "No, Mr. Scrooge pulls that every week. Every week, at ten o'clock sharp, he always whips the door open, complaining that his place isn't ready, and that I was completely unexpected, or something. Once, I was five minutes late, and no one answered the door. I was so upset, but I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there, hoping Mr. Scrooge would magically appear. Five minutes after _that_ \- and believe me, it felt like forever - he comes meandering back from the corner and insisting he'd forgotten his chequebook." Aerith smiled fondly. "He doesn't mean a word of it, honest."

Jim laughed. "He sounds like the fun kind of old person." 

"Yeah," agreed Aerith. "Sure makes the routine interesting. Anyway, I'd better get to work." 

Aerith was sure she'd make a terrible conversation partner as she swept, mopped, and scrubbed, but Jim never seemed to run out of things to say, and Aerith found herself talking more than she expected. For some reason, no matter where the conversation went, they always wound up ribbing each other, going from serious to light-hearted within moments of each other. It was the first time in a long time Aerith could remember having this much fun talking to someone and still getting something out of it.

"No," she corrected him, pausing in her work on the kitchen counter. "When I say Yuffie gets herself into trouble, I mean _trouble_. Not the nice kind that we can all laugh at and joke about after. Real trouble." 

"Maybe that's only because she's too young to tell a story well enough," mused Jim. "You think?" 

Aerith rolled her eyes and kept scrubbing. "I dread the day." 

"Come on, I'm being serious," Jim insisted. "I mean, remember when I was telling you about Treasure Planet and everything on the way there? Don't you think some of that stuff was just as dangerous?" 

"Except you're so awesome, you can just make it work, right?"

"Pretty much," said Jim. "I would say that if Yuffie was at a point that she could just tell a story, beginning, middle, and end, there would be a few punishments that might not have happened." Seeing Aerith's face, he back-pedaled, but only a little. "I mean, she's still way too young to have that, um, experience in a tragically unfortunate craft, but you have to admit that it would be a really good skill for... for dealing." 

Finished with the counter, Aerith dropped her sponge in the bucket and turned to study Jim carefully. "Speaking of that, how are you doing? Are you... dealing?" 

Uncomfortable, Jim shrugged and avoided looking at her. "Well... Alright. I guess." He turned to her and forced a grin. "But hey, I have to talk about that crap with the captain and Hakim and everyone already, so why beat a dead horse, right?" Jim hardly waited for her nod before continuing the conversation. "Now, tell me honestly, can you see Yuffie as a pirate?" 

Aerith reminded herself of the resolution to expect the unexpected from this one. She lifted the soaking sponge from the bucket and shook it at him, spraying water droplets everywhere. "Don't you dare, Jim. If I catch her elongating her 'r's even once, you are in big trouble."

"Alright, alright!" laughed Jim, his hands raised in surrender. "So are you almost done or what?"

Aerith cast a look around the apartment, studying every open surface that was visible. "Yes," she allowed. "I'm done here."

"Finally," crowed Jim. He lifted himself off the counter and immediately started helping her clean up. At the door, he picked up the assorted cleaning supplies and refused to let her even touch them. "Uh-uh-uh!" He smiled, a crooked yet dashing grin that made Aerith's heart skip a beat. "I'm taking your stuff back to the hotel, and then you are giving me a tour of Traverse Town. We square?"

Aerith pursed her lips and planted her hands on her hips, but it was a half-hearted effort. She fought it but her mouth pulled into a wide smile. "Alright."

"Great." 

She locked the door to Mr. Scrooge's apartment and turned to follow Jim, humming happily in a way she hadn't been for months.

\---

The lamps were dimmed in their fading white-yellow tones of evening, and Leon was more bruised and cut up than what was usual. What he was about to attempt had weighed heavily on him all day and the best way he'd found to deal with pent-up nerves was to go beat something up. With as much aggression and energy he could muster.

Raggedly, he drew in breath. In. Out. In. Out. In. Okay. He raised a hand and knocked on the door, gentler than he'd ever decided to hit a door before. Ten seconds, the longest ten seconds he'd ever lived, and the door opened revealing her. 

Her face, suddenly guarded, stretched into a wooden smile. "Yes?" 

"U-um." He could feel his face burning, the cold sweat on his back, the struggle for air. "I just... wanted to..." 

She was staring at him. She was staring at him! Keep going!

"I'm sorry." He said it as quickly as he could. "I'm really sorry." For good measure.

Her face was still a wall. The hard smile on her face dimmed and she looked down. "Oh." 

What. What did that mean? Was it not good enough? What did he do?

"Okay," she said. 

Leon looked up to see the door meeting his eyes, once again. He was alone in the hallway. 

He slowly turned and walked out, but strangely, the sewers didn't seem so alluring right now.


End file.
